Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:C2025C00180:schedule:1:p12
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:C2025C00180
Segment Type: schedule
Provision Reference: sch 1 (pt 12/31)
Character Range: 1450438–1453102

Criminal Code).
 (10) Subsection (1) does not apply if:
 (a) any of the following circumstances exist:
 (i) *excise duty has been paid on the tobacco;
 (ii) *customs duty has been paid on the tobacco;
 (iii) excise duty is not payable on the tobacco because of an exemption under a law of the Commonwealth;
 (iv) customs duty is not payable on the tobacco because of an exemption under a law of the Commonwealth; or
 (b) the person has reasonable grounds to suspect that any of those circumstances exist.
Note: A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in subsection (10) (see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code).

308‑40  Buying of tobacco (500 kilograms or above)—reasonable suspicion offence
 (1) A person commits an offence if:
 (a) the person buys a thing; and
 (b) the thing is tobacco (other than tobacco seed or tobacco plant); and
 (c) the tobacco is in Australia but not in an external Territory; and
 (d) it is reasonable to suspect that none of the following circumstances exist:
 (i) *excise duty has been paid on the tobacco;
 (ii) *customs duty has been paid on the tobacco;
 (iii) excise duty is not payable on the tobacco because of an exemption under a law of the Commonwealth;
 (iv) customs duty is not payable on the tobacco because of an exemption under a law of the Commonwealth; and
 (e) the weight of the tobacco is 500 kilograms or above.
Penalty: 5 years imprisonment or the greater of the following, or both 5 years imprisonment and the greater of the following:
 (a) 1,000 penalty units;
 (b) the amount mentioned in subsection (2) multiplied by 5.
 (2) For the purposes of the penalty in subsection (1), the amount is:
 (a) for tobacco (other than tobacco leaf)—the amount of excise duty that would be payable assuming that the tobacco were *excisable goods and entered for home consumption on the day mentioned in subsection (3); or
 (b) for tobacco leaf, if regulations have been made for the purposes of this paragraph—the amount of excise duty that would be payable, as worked out under the regulations, assuming that the tobacco had been manufactured into excisable goods and entered for home consumption on the day mentioned in subsection (3); or
 (c) for tobacco leaf, if regulations have not been made for the purposes of paragraph (b)—nil.
 (3) For the purposes of subsection (2), the day is:
 (a) if the Court knows the day, or days, on which the offence was committed—that day, or the earliest of those days; or
 (b) otherwise—the day on which the prosecution for the offence is instituted.
 (4) Absolute liability applies to paragraph (1)(c).
 (5) Absolute liability applies to paragraph (1)(d).