Section 139C — Competition and Consumer Act 2010: Conduct of employees or agents of persons other than bodies corporate

(1) If, in a proceeding under this Part or the Australian Consumer Law in respect of conduct that is engaged in by a person (the principal) other than a body corporate and to which this Part or the Australian Consumer Law applies, it is necessary to establish the state of mind of the principal, it is sufficient to show: (a) that an employee or agent of the principal engaged in that conduct within the scope of the actual or apparent authority of the employee or agent; and (b) the employee or agent had that state of mind. (2) Any conduct engaged in on behalf of a person (the principal) other than a body corporate: (a) by an employee or agent of the principal within the scope of the actual or apparent authority of the employee or agent; or (b) by any other person: (i) at the direction of an employee or agent of the principal; or (ii) with the consent or agreement (whether express or implied) of such an employee or agent; if the giving of the direction, consent or agreement is within the scope of the actual or apparent authority of the employee or agent; is taken, for the purposes of this Part or the Australian Consumer Law, to have been engaged in also by the principal. (3) If: (a) a person other than a body corporate is convicted of an offence; and (b) subsection (1) or (2) applied in relation to the conviction on the basis that the person was the principal mentioned in that subsection; and (c) the person would not have been convicted of the offence if that subsection had not been enacted; the person is not liable to be punished by imprisonment for that offence.