New South Wales Consolidated Acts

COURT SECURITY ACT 2005 - SECT 9A

9A Prohibition on unauthorised transmission of court proceedings from courtroom

(1) A person must not use any device to transmit sounds or images (or both) from a room or other place where a court is sitting, or to transmit information that forms part of the proceedings of a court from a room or other place where that court is sitting, in any of the following ways--

(a) by transmitting the sounds, images or information to any person or place outside that room or other place,

(b) by posting entries containing the sounds, images or information on social media sites or any other website,

(c) by otherwise broadcasting or publishing the sounds, images or information by means of the Internet,

(d) by otherwise making the sounds, images or information accessible to any person outside that room or other place,

whether that transmission, posting, broadcasting, publishing or other conduct occurs simultaneously with the proceedings or at a later time (or both).

: Maximum penalty--200 penalty units or imprisonment for 12 months (or both).

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to any of the following--

(a) a device being used for a purpose other than a purpose referred to in subsection (1),

(b) the transmission of sounds, images or information by an audio link, audio visual link, closed-circuit link or other technology that enables communication between the room or other place where the court is sitting and another place and that has been expressly permitted by a judicial officer,

(c) any other transmission of sounds, images or information that has been expressly approved by a judicial officer,

(d) the transmission of sounds, images or information for the purpose of transcribing court proceedings for the court at a place outside the room or other place where the court is sitting,

(e) the use by a prosecutor of a tablet computer or other similar device to transmit sounds, images or information only to another prosecutor who either is not a witness in the relevant court proceedings or, if he or she is such a witness, who has already given evidence in those proceedings,

(f) the transmission of sounds, images or information in any circumstances that may be prescribed by the regulations.