Victorian Current Acts

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DRUGS, POISONS AND CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES ACT 1981 - SECT 55N

Exemption from civil liability

    (1)     This section applies to the following—

S. 55N(1)(a) substituted by No. 7/2023 s. 20(2).

        (a)     the holder of a medically supervised injecting centre licence;

        (b)     a member of the staff at the permitted site;

        (c)     the owner of the permitted site;

        (d)     an occupier of the permitted site;

        (e)     a trustee or a member of a committee of management or of a board (however described) of—

              (i)     the licensee; or

S. 55N(1)(e)(ii) amended by No. 7/2023 s. 36(2).

              (ii)     the owner of the permitted site; or

              (iii)     an occupier of the permitted site.

    (2)     A person to whom this section applies is not subject to any civil liability for doing or omitting to do a thing—

        (a)     in good faith; and

        (b)     in carrying out any duty or function in relation to the operation of the licensed medically supervised injecting centre; and

        (c)     in the case of an act or omission that is subject to this Part or regulations made for the purposes of this Part, in accordance with this Part or those regulations.

    (3)     Without limiting subsection (2), that subsection applies to an act or omission that—

        (a)     relates to the supply or possession of a drug of dependence in the licensed medically supervised injecting centre, whether or not the drug of dependence is an injecting centre drug in a permitted quantity of that injecting centre drug; and

        (b)     satisfies the requirements set out in subsection (2)(a), (b) and (c).

    (4)     Without limiting subsection (2), a member of the staff at the permitted site who acts, or fails to act, under this Part or the regulations made for the purposes of this Part in the reasonable belief that the act or omission is in accordance with this Part or those regulations does not commit—

        (a)     unprofessional conduct within the meaning and for the purposes of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law; or

        (b)     a breach of professional etiquette or ethics or any other code of conduct.

    (5)     Subsections (2), (3) and (4) do not apply if the thing done or omitted to be done was due to negligence.

    (6)     Nothing in this section affects any rights or obligations between a member of the staff at the permitted site and the person who engages (whether by employment or otherwise) the person for that role.

    (7)     Nothing in this section affects or limits any Crown immunity that applies to a person who exercises a power or function under this Part.

S. 55O inserted by No. 66/2017 s. 7, amended by No. 7/2023 s. 31(1)(2) (ILA s. 39B(1)).



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