Commonwealth Crimes Legislation Amendment (Proceeds of Crime and Other Measures) Bill 2015

On 26 November 2015, the Commonwealth Parliament introduced the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Proceeds of Crime and Other Measures) Bill 2015 into the House of Representatives. The bill aims to aims to amend the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Cth) (POC Act), Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth)(Criminal Code), Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth) (AML/CTF Act), and the AusCheck Act 2007 (Cth) (AusCheck Act).

Background to the Bill

According to the explanatory memorandum, the bill contains a range of measures to improve and clarify Commonwealth criminal justice arrangements, including:

• amending the POC Act to clarify the operation of the non-conviction based proceeds of crime regime in response to recent court decisions;
• amending the Criminal Code to insert two new offences of false dealing with accounting documents;
• amending the serious drug offences in Part 9.1 of the Criminal Code to clarify the definitions of the terms ‘drug analogue’ and ‘manufacture’ and ensure that they capture all relevant substances and processes;
• clarifying and addressing operational constraints identified by law enforcement agencies with the AML/CTF Act, and expanding the list of designated agencies authorised to access AUSTRAC information to include the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption of South Australia; and
• clarifying and extending the circumstances under which AusCheck can disclose AusCheck background check information to the Commonwealth and to state and territory government agencies performing law enforcement and national security functions.

Key Provisions in the Bill

The Bill contains 5 Schedules and each Schedule addresses a different aspect of criminal justice arrangements:

• Schedule 1 will amend the POC Act to clarify the operation of the non-conviction based confiscation regime provided under that Act;
• Schedule 2 will amend the Criminal Code to create two new offences of false dealing with accounting documents. These offences implement Australia’s obligation as a party to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (the Convention). Article 8 of the Convention requires parties to create offences of false accounting for the purposes of concealing or enabling bribes to a foreign public official;
• Schedule 3 will amend the serious drug offences in Part 9.1 of the Criminal Code to clarify the definitions of the terms ‘drug analogue’ and ‘manufacture’ and ensure that they capture all relevant substances and processes. The Schedule makes make two amendments to the definition of ‘drug analogue’ in section 301.9 of the Criminal Code;
• Schedule 4 will amend the AML/CTF Act to clarify and address operational constraints identified by law enforcement agencies, and enable a wider range of designated officials and agencies to access and share information obtained under the AML/CTF Act; and
• Schedule 5 will make amendments to Part 1 and Division 1 of Part 3 of the AusCheck Act to clarify and extend the circumstances under which AusCheck can share AusCheck scheme personal information. Specifically, the amendments in Schedule 5 will enable AusCheck to directly share AusCheck scheme personal information with a broader range of Commonwealth agencies and with state and territory government agencies performing law enforcement and national security functions.

The Bill is awaiting further debate in the House of Representatives when Commonwealth Parliament resumes sitting today, 30 November 2015.

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Crimes Legislation Amendment (Proceeds of Crime and Other Measures) Bill 2015 and Secondary Materials as reproduced on TimeBase LawOne