Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts (1) In subsection (3),
(6) or (7) —
designated official means a person designated
under subsection (13) by the Commissioner for the purposes of the subsection
in which the term is used.
(2) An authorised
officer or a member of the Police Force who has reason to believe that a
person has committed a prescribed offence against this Act may, within 6
months after the alleged offence is believed to have been committed, give an
infringement notice to the alleged offender.
(3) An infringement
notice is to be in the prescribed form and is to —
(a)
contain a description of the alleged offence; and
(b)
advise that if the alleged offender does not wish to be prosecuted for the
alleged offence in a court, the amount of money specified in the notice as
being the modified penalty for the offence may be paid to a designated
official within a period of 28 days after the giving of the notice; and
(c)
inform the alleged offender as to who are designated officials for the
purposes of receiving payment of modified penalties.
(4) In an infringement
notice the amount specified as being the modified penalty for the offence
referred to in the notice is to be the amount that was the prescribed modified
penalty at the time the alleged offence is believed to have been committed.
(5) The modified
penalty that may be prescribed for an offence is not to exceed 20% of the
maximum penalty that could be imposed for that offence by a court.
(6) A designated
official may, in a particular case, extend the period of 28 days within which
the modified penalty may be paid and the extension may be allowed whether or
not the period of 28 days has elapsed.
(7) A designated
official may, whether or not the modified penalty has been paid, withdraw an
infringement notice by sending to the alleged offender a notice in the
prescribed form stating that the infringement notice has been withdrawn.
(8) Where an
infringement notice is withdrawn after the modified penalty has been paid, the
amount is to be refunded.
(9) Subsection (10)
applies where the modified penalty specified in an infringement notice has
been paid within 28 days or such further time as is allowed and the notice has
not been withdrawn.
(10) Where this
subsection applies it prevents the bringing of proceedings and the imposition
of penalties to the same extent that they would be prevented if the alleged
offender had been convicted by a court of, and punished for, the alleged
offence.
(11) Payment of a
modified penalty is not to be regarded as an admission for the purposes of any
proceedings, whether civil or criminal.
(12) Unless subsection
(8) requires it to be refunded, an amount paid as a modified penalty is to be
dealt with as if it were a penalty imposed by a court as a penalty for an
offence.
(13) The Commissioner
may, in writing, designate persons or classes of persons for the purposes of
subsection (3), (6) or (7) or for the purposes of 2 or more of those
subsections, but an authorised officer or a member of the Police Force is not
eligible to be so designated.
(14) The Commissioner
is to issue to each authorised officer a certificate of his authorisation
under subsection (2), and the authorised officer is to produce the certificate
whenever required to do so by a person to whom an infringement notice has been
or is about to be given.
[Section 55A inserted: No. 4 of 2002 s. 52;
amended: No. 84 of 2004 s. 80.]