Queensland Consolidated Acts

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACT 1994 - SECT 492

492 Responsibility for acts or omissions of representatives

(1) If, in a proceeding for an offence against this Act, it is relevant to prove a person’s state of mind about a particular act or omission, it is enough to show—

(a) the act or omission was done or omitted to be done by a representative of the person within the scope of the representative’s actual or apparent authority; and

(b) the representative had the state of mind.

(2) An act or omission done or omitted to be done for a person by a representative of the person within the scope of the representative’s actual or apparent authority is taken, in a proceeding for an offence against this Act, to have been done or omitted to be done also by the person, unless the person proves the person took all reasonable steps to prevent the acts or omissions.

(3) If—

(a) an individual is convicted of an offence against this Act; and

(b) the individual would not have been convicted of the offence if subsections (1) and (2) had not been enacted;

the individual is not liable to be punished by imprisonment for the offence.

(4) In this section—

"representative" , of a person, means—

(a) if the person is a corporation—

(i) an executive officer, employee or agent of the corporation; and

(ii) if, under the Corporations Act , the corporation (the
"parent corporation" ) controls another corporation or another corporation is a subsidiary of the parent corporation—

(A) the controlled corporation or the subsidiary corporation; and

(B) an executive officer, employee or agent of the controlled corporation or the subsidiary corporation; or

(b) if the person is an individual—an employee or agent of the individual.