Queensland Consolidated Acts

EVIDENCE ACT 1977 - SECT 21AZB

21AZB Unauthorised possession of, or dealing with, recording

(1) A person commits an offence who, without authority—

(a) has a recording in his or her possession; or

(b) supplies, or offers to supply, a recording to any person; or

(c) plays, copies or erases a recording or permits a person to play, copy or erase a recording.

Penalty—

Maximum penalty—

(a) for an individual—100 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment; or

(b) for a corporation—1,000 penalty units.

(2) A person has authority for subsection (1) only if the person has the possession or does the thing mentioned in subsection (1) —

(a) in the case of a public official—for a purpose connected with the proceeding for which the recording was made or any rehearing or retrial of, or appeal from, the proceeding, or civil proceeding in which the recording may be presented in evidence; or

(b) in the case of the principal registrar of a court—as authorised under a practice direction made under section 21AZE or section 21AZG ; or

(ba) in the case of the victims’ commissioner under the Victims’ Commissioner and Sexual Violence Review Board Act 2024 —for a purpose connected with identifying and reviewing systemic issues under section 9 (a) of that Act; or

(c) in any case—as authorised by a judicial officer under section 21AZA .

(3) In this section—

"erase" includes destroy.