Clause 172 - Amendment of section 23

Penalty for failure to comply imposes sanction and procedural safeguards; authority records admissible and prior sanction required for prosecution.

An Explanation to section 23 treats its inquiry powers as never applying where a section 24(1) notice has been issued, effective retrospectively from 1 November 2016. Section 24's attachment and decision timelines are measured from the last day of the month of notice and exclude time lost due to court stays, with minimum extension rules. Section 26(7) excludes stayed periods when computing the one year decision timeline and provides a minimum remaining period. New sections 54A and 54B impose a penalty for failure to comply with summons or furnish information and make authority records admissible in prosecutions. Section 55 requires prior Board sanction for specified prosecutions and defines competent authority.