Victorian Current Acts

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 2009 - SECT 416A

    (1)     At any stage in a proceeding under this Act, a person may apply for a non-disclosure order if the person—

        (a)     is a party to the proceeding; or

        (b)     is a law enforcement officer or law enforcement agency that is in possession of, or that knows of, any information, document or thing relevant to the alleged offence; or

        (c)     is a law enforcement officer or law enforcement agency that is prohibited or restricted by statute from disclosing any information, document or thing relevant to the alleged offence; or

        (d)     is a person with a direct or special interest in the making of any order or other decision under subsection (3).

    (2)     In exceptional cases, an application for a non-disclosure order may be made without giving notice to the accused.

Example

Exceptional cases may be where giving notice of an application, or the nature of the information, document or thing to which the application relates, will defeat the public interest.

    (3)     The court may make any order or other decision that it has the power to make, that has the effect of excusing or preventing the disclosure of information relevant to the alleged offence.

    (4)     Nothing in this section—

        (a)     limits the power of the court to make any order or other decision that it has power to make with respect to the disclosure of information, documents or things; or

        (b)     limits or otherwise affects the operation of a provision made by or under any other Act, including an Act of the Commonwealth, that prohibits or restricts, or that authorises a court or tribunal to prohibit or restrict, the disclosure of information for or in connection with any proceeding.

    (5)     The making of a non-disclosure order does not affect or limit the prosecution's duty of disclosure under this Act or any other law to disclose any information, document or thing—

        (a)     that—

              (i)     comes into the prosecution's possession or comes to the prosecution's notice after the order is made; or

              (ii)     becomes relevant to an issue in the proceeding that arose after the order is made; and

        (b)     that is relevant to an application for, or to review of, a non-disclosure order.

Note

See section 416 as to the prosecution's general obligation of disclosure.

S. 416B inserted by No. 1/2022 s. 9.