Commonwealth Numbered Acts

PROCEEDS OF CRIME ACT 1987 No. 87, 1987 - SECT 4

4. (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:

"AFP member" means a member or special member of the Australian Federal
Police;

"account" means any facility or arrangement through which a financial
institution accepts deposits or allows withdrawals and includes a facility or
arrangement for:

   (a)  a fixed term deposit; and

   (b)  a safety deposit box;

"appropriate officer" means the DPP or a person in a class of persons declared
by the regulations to be within this definition;

"approved" means approved by the Minister in writing for the purposes of the
provision in which the term occurs;

"Australia", when used in a geographical sense, includes the external
Territories;

"bank" means:

   (a)  the Reserve Bank of Australia;

   (b)  a bank within the meaning of the Banking Act 1959; or

   (c)  a person who carries on State banking within the meaning of paragraph
        51 (xiii) of the Constitution;

"Bankruptcy Act" means the Bankruptcy Act 1966;

"benefit" includes service or advantage;

"building society" means a society registered or incorporated as a building
society, co-operative housing society or similar society under a law relating
to such societies that is in force in a State or Territory;

"Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police;

"confiscation order" means a forfeiture order or a pecuniary penalty order;

"corresponding law" means a law of a State that is declared by the regulations
to be a law that corresponds to this Act;

"credit union" means a society or other body of persons that is registered or
incorporated as a credit union or a credit society under a law in force in a
State or Territory relating to credit unions or credit societies;

"Crimes Act" means the Crimes Act 1914;

"criminal investigation", in relation to a foreign serious offence, has the
same meaning as in the Mutual Assistance Act;

"criminal proceeding", in relation to a foreign serious offence, has the same
meaning as in the Mutual Assistance Act;

"Customs Act" means the Customs Act 1901;

"Customs officer" means an officer of Customs within the meaning of the
Customs Act;

"DPP" means the Director of Public Prosecutions;

"encumbrance", in relation to property, includes any interest, mortgage,
charge, right, claim or demand in respect of the property;

"facsimile copy" means a copy obtained by facsimile transmission;

"financial institution" means:

   (a)  a bank;

   (b)  a building society;

   (c)  a credit union; or

   (d)  a body corporate that is, or that, if it had been incorporated in
        Australia, would be, a financial corporation within the meaning of
        paragraph 51 (xx) of the Constitution;

"fixed term deposit" means an interest bearing deposit lodged for a fixed
period;

"foreign forfeiture order" has the same meaning as in the Mutual Assistance
Act;

"foreign pecuniary penalty order" has the same meaning as in the Mutual
Assistance Act;

"foreign restraining order" has the same meaning as in the Mutual Assistance
Act;

"foreign serious offence" has the same meaning as in the Mutual Assistance
Act;

"forfeiture order" means an order under subsection 19 (1);

"indictable offence" means an offence against a law of the Commonwealth, or a
law of a Territory, that may be dealt with as an indictable offence (even if
it may, in some circumstances, be dealt with as a summary offence);

"interest", in relation to property, means:

   (a)  a legal or equitable estate or interest in the property; or

   (b)  a right, power or privilege in connection with the property;
whether present or future and whether vested or contingent;

"interstate forfeiture order" means an order that is made under a
corresponding law and is of a kind declared by the regulations to be within
this definition;

"interstate indictable offence" means an offence against a law of a State,
being an offence in relation to which an interstate forfeiture order or an
interstate pecuniary penalty order may be made under a corresponding law of
that State;

"interstate pecuniary penalty order" means an order that is made under a
corresponding law and is of a kind declared by the regulations to be within
this definition;

"interstate restraining order" means an order that is made under a
corresponding law and is of a kind declared by the regulations to be within
this definition;

"law enforcement authority" means the Australian Federal Police or the
National Crime Authority;

"magistrate" includes a justice of the peace;

"magistrate's court" means a court of summary jurisdiction constituted by a
Stipendiary Magistrate, a Police Magistrate or a Special Magistrate;

"Mutual Assistance Act" means the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 
1987 ;

"narcotic substance" means:

   (a)  a narcotic substance within the meaning of the Customs Act; or

   (b)  a substance declared by the regulations to be a substance to which
        this definition applies;

"Official Trustee" means the Official Trustee in Bankruptcy;

"ordinary indictable offence" means an indictable offence that is not a
serious offence;

"pecuniary penalty order" means an order under subsection 26 (1);

"penalty amount", in relation to a pecuniary penalty order against a person,
means the amount that the person is liable to pay the Commonwealth under the
order;

"petition" means a petition under the Bankruptcy Act;

"police officer" means:

   (a)  an AFP member; or

   (b)  a member of the police force of a State or Territory;

"premises" includes:

   (a)  a structure, building, aircraft, vehicle or vessel;

   (b)  a place (whether enclosed or built upon or not); and

   (c)  a part of premises (including premises of a kind referred to in
        paragraph (a) or (b));

"prescribed time", in relation to a warrant issued under Division 1 of Part
III in relation to property, means:

   (a)  where an information is laid in respect of the relevant offence either
        before the warrant is issued or within 48 hours after the warrant is
        issued-the day that is one month after the date of the issue of the
        warrant; or

   (b)  in any other case-the time that is 48 hours after the time of the
        issue of the warrant;

"proceeds", in relation to an offence, means any property that is derived or
realised, directly or indirectly, by any person from the commission of the
offence;

"proceeds of crime" means:

   (a)  proceeds of an indictable offence; or

   (b)  any property that is derived or realised, directly or indirectly, by
        any person from acts or omissions that:

        (i)    occurred outside Australia;

        (ii)   related to a narcotic substance; and

        (iii)  would, if they had occurred in Australia, have constituted an
               indictable offence or a State indictable offence;

"production order" means an order under section 66;

"property" means real or personal property of every description, whether
situated in Australia or elsewhere and whether tangible or intangible and
includes an interest in any such real or personal property;

"property-tracking document", in relation to an offence, means:

   (a)  a document relevant to:

        (i)    identifying, locating or quantifying property of a person who
               committed the offence; or

        (ii)   identifying or locating any document necessary for the transfer
               of property of a person who committed the offence; or

   (b)  a document relevant to:

        (i)    identifying, locating or quantifying tainted property in
               relation to the offence; or

        (ii)   identifying or locating any document necessary for the transfer
               of tainted property in relation to the offence;

"registrable property" means property title to which is passed by registration
on a register kept pursuant to a provision of any law of the Commonwealth or
of a State or Territory;

"relevant application period", in relation to a person's conviction of an
indictable offence, means the period of 6 months after:

   (a)  where the person is to be taken to have been convicted of the offence
        by reason of paragraph 5 (1) (a)-the day on which the person was
        convicted of the offence;

   (b)  where the person is to be taken to have been convicted of the offence
        by reason of paragraph 5 (1) (b)-the day on which the person was
        discharged without conviction;

   (c)  where the person is to be taken to have been convicted of the offence
        by reason of paragraph 5 (1) (c)-the day on which the court took the
        offence into account in passing sentence for the other offence
        referred to in that paragraph; or

   (d)  where the person is to be taken to have been convicted of the offence
        by reason of paragraph 5 (1) (d)-the day on which the person is to be
        taken to have absconded in connection with the offence;

"relevant offence", in relation to tainted property, means an offence by
reason of the commission of which the property is tainted property;

"relevant Supreme Court" means:

   (a)  in relation to property seized under a warrant issued under Division 1
        of Part III-the Supreme Court of the State or Territory in which an
        information in respect of the relevant offence has been, or is to be,
        laid;

   (b)  in relation to property seized under section 38-the Supreme Court of
        the State or Territory in which an information in respect of the
        relevant offence has been laid; or

   (c)  in relation to a person's conviction of an offence or the charging, or
        proposed charging, of a person with an offence-the Supreme Court of
        the State or Territory in which the person has been convicted or has
        been, or is to be, charged with the offence;

"restraining order" means an order under subsection 43 (2);

"State" includes the Northern Territory;

"State indictable offence" means an offence against a law of a State that may
be dealt with as an indictable offence (even if it may, in some circumstances,
be dealt with as a summary offence);

"tainted property", in relation to an offence, means:

   (a)  property used in, or in connection with, the commission of the
        offence; or

   (b)  proceeds of the offence;
and when used without reference to a particular offence means tainted property
in relation to an indictable offence;

"Territory" does not include the Northern Territory;

"unlawful activity" means an act or omission that constitutes an offence
against a law in force in the Commonwealth, a State, a Territory or a foreign
country.

(2) A reference in this Act to a person being charged with an offence is a
reference to an information being laid against the person for the offence
whether or not:

   (a)  a summons to require the attendance of the person to answer the
        information has been issued; or

   (b)  a warrant for the apprehension of the person has been issued.

(3) A reference in this Act to a benefit derived by a person includes a
reference to a benefit derived by another person at the request or direction
of the first person.

(4) A reference in this Act to the property of a person includes a reference
to property in respect of which the person has the beneficial interest.

(5) A reference in this Act to a criminal offence is a reference to an offence
against a law of the Commonwealth or of a Territory.

(6) Without prejudice to its effect by virtue of subsection (5), this Act has
effect as if a reference in this Act to a criminal offence included a
reference to an offence against a law of a State.

(7) A reference in this Act to acquiring property, or an interest in property,
for sufficient consideration is a reference to acquiring the property or the
interest for a consideration that is sufficient and that, having regard solely
to commercial considerations, reflects the value of the property or the
interest.