127   Proceedings for offences

(1)  Proceedings for an offence against this Act may be taken before the Local Court or before the Court in its summary jurisdiction.

(2)  Proceedings for an offence against the regulations may be taken before the Local Court.

(3)  If proceedings in respect of an offence against this Act are brought in the Local Court, the maximum monetary penalty that the court may impose in respect of the offence is, notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act, 1,000 penalty units or the maximum monetary penalty provided by this Act in respect of the offence, whichever is the lesser.

(4)  If proceedings in respect of an offence against this Act are brought in the Court in its summary jurisdiction, the Court may impose a penalty not exceeding the maximum penalty provided by this Act in respect of the offence.

(5)  Proceedings for an offence against this Act or the regulations may be commenced not later than 2 years after the offence was alleged to be committed.

(5A)  However, proceedings for any such offence may also be commenced within, but not later than, 2 years after the date on which evidence of the alleged offence first came to the attention of an authorised officer within the meaning of Division 2C of Part 6.

(5B)  If subsection (5A) is relied on for the purpose of commencing proceedings for an offence, the information or application must contain particulars of the date on which evidence of the offence first came to the attention of an authorised officer and need not contain particulars of the date on which the offence was committed. The date on which evidence first came to the attention of an authorised officer is the date specified in the information or application, unless the contrary is established.

(5C)  This section applies despite anything in the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 or any other Act.

(6)  (Repealed)

(7)  A person shall not be convicted of an offence against this Act or the regulations where the matter constituting the offence is, at the date upon which the conviction would, but for this subsection, be made:

(a)  the subject of proceedings under section 123, which proceedings have not been concluded, or

(b)  the subject of an order made under section 124.

(8)  Nothing in subsection (7) precludes a conviction being made where the proceedings referred to in paragraph (a) of that subsection are concluded otherwise than by the making of an order under section 124.