Schedule 2 Inquiries by the Board or a Committee
(Section 19H)
(1) At an inquiry conducted by it, the Board or a Committee is not bound to observe the rules of law governing the admission of evidence, but may inform itself of any matter in such manner as it thinks fit.(2) At a meeting of the Board or of a Committee conducting an inquiry, the chairperson of the Board nominated for the purposes of the inquiry or the chairperson of the Committee is to preside.(3) A decision supported at a meeting by at least 2 of the members of the Board or a Committee conducting an inquiry is the decision of the Board or Committee.
2 Power to summon witnesses and take evidence
(1) A member of the Board or a Committee may summon a person to appear at an inquiry conducted by the Board or Committee, to give evidence and to produce such documents (if any) as are referred to in the summons.(2) The person presiding at the inquiry may require a person appearing at the inquiry to produce a document.(3) The Board or a Committee may, at an inquiry conducted by it, take evidence on oath or affirmation and, for that purpose, a member of the Board or Committee:(a) may require a person appearing at the inquiry to give evidence either to take an oath or to make an affirmation in a form approved by the person presiding, and(b) may administer an oath to or take an affirmation from a person so appearing at the inquiry.(4) A person served with a summons to appear at such an inquiry and to give evidence must not, without reasonable excuse:(a) fail to attend as required by the summons, or(b) fail to attend from day to day unless excused, or released from further attendance, by a member of the Board or Committee.(5) A person appearing at an inquiry to give evidence must not, without reasonable excuse:(a) when required to be sworn or affirm—fail to comply with the requirement, or(b) fail to answer a question that the person is required to answer by the person presiding, or(c) fail to produce a document that the person is required to produce by this clause.Maximum penalty: 20 penalty units.
(1) A member of the Board or a Committee may, by notice in writing served on a person, require the person:(a) to attend, at a time and place specified in the notice, before a person specified in the notice, being a member of the Board or Committee or a person authorised by the Board or Committee in that behalf, and(b) to produce, at that time and place, to the person so specified a document specified in the notice.(2) A person must not fail, without reasonable excuse, to comply with a notice served on the person under this clause.Maximum penalty: 20 penalty units.
4 Evidence of other proceedings
The Board or a Committee may receive and admit on production, as evidence at any inquiry:(a) the judgment and findings of any court (whether civil or criminal and whether or not of New South Wales) or tribunal, or(b) the verdict or findings of a jury of any such court, or(c) a certificate of the conviction of any person, or(d) a transcript of the depositions or of shorthand notes, duly certified by the registrar or clerk of the court or tribunal as correct, of the evidence of witnesses taken in any such court or tribunal,where the Board or Committee is of the opinion that the judgment, findings, verdict, certificate or evidence is or are relevant to the proceedings.
(1) The Board or a Committee may at an inquiry conducted by it deal with one or more complaints about a pharmacist.(2) If, during any such inquiry, it appears to the Board or a Committee that, having regard to any matters that have arisen, another complaint could have been made against the pharmacist concerned:(a) whether instead of or in addition to the complaint which was made, and(b) whether or not by the same complainant,the Board or Committee may take that other complaint as having been referred to it and may deal with it at the same inquiry.(3) If another complaint is taken to have been referred to the Board or a Committee under subclause (2) the complaint may be dealt with after such an adjournment (if any) as is, in the opinion of the Board or Committee, just and equitable in the circumstances.
(1) The person presiding at an inquiry conducted by the Board or a Committee may, on the request of a complainant, the pharmacist concerned or any other person, if the person presiding thinks it appropriate in the particular circumstances of the case:(a) direct that the name of any witness is not to be disclosed in the proceedings, or(b) direct that all or any of the following matters:(i) the name and address of any witness,(ii) the name and address of a complainant,(iii) the name and address of a pharmacist,(iv) any specified evidence,(v) the subject-matter of a complaint,must not be published, except in a publication intended primarily for the use of members of the legal or medical profession.(2) A direction may be amended or revoked at any time by the person presiding.(3) A direction may be given before or during an inquiry, but is not to be given before the inquiry unless notice is given to:(a) the person who requested the direction, and(b) the complainant or the pharmacist concerned, as appropriate, and(c) such other persons as the person presiding thinks fit,of the time and place appointed by the person presiding for consideration of the request.(3A) For the purposes of this clause, a reference to the name of any person includes a reference to any information, picture or other material that identifies the person or is likely to lead to the identification of the person.(4) A person must not contravene a direction given under this clause.Maximum penalty: 20 penalty units.
7 Authentication of documents by the Board or a Committee
Every document requiring authentication by the Board or a Committee may be sufficiently authenticated:(a) in the case of the Board, without the seal of the Board, if signed by the president of the Board or by a member of the Board authorised to do so by the president, or(b) in the case of a Committee, if signed by the chairperson of the Committee or by a member of the Committee authorised to do so by that chairperson.
At any inquiry conducted by the Board or a Committee, the registrar or an officer of the Department of Health appointed by the Director-General:(a) may, with the consent of a complainant, act as the nominal complainant, and(b) when so acting, is, for the purposes of this Act and the regulations, to be taken to be the person who made the complaint.
9 Intervention by Director-General
Without limiting the operation of clause 8, the Director-General may intervene in any inquiry conducted by the Board or a Committee, and has a right to be heard:(a) personally or by an officer of the Department of Health, and(b) also, in the case of any inquiry conducted by the Board, by an Australian lawyer who is not an officer of the Department of Health.
(1) It is the duty of the Board and a Committee to conduct inquiries under this Act and to determine those inquiries as soon as is reasonably practicable.(2) Without affecting the generality of subclause (1), the Board or a Committee may postpone or adjourn an inquiry being conducted by it as it thinks fit.
A certificate purporting to have been signed by the registrar, to the effect that:(a) a person specified in the certificate was or was not a pharmacist at a time or during a period so specified, or(b) the name of a person specified in the certificate was removed from the register at a time so specified, or(c) a person specified in the certificate was suspended from practising pharmacy from a time so specified and for a period so specified, or(d) a condition, particulars of which are set out in the certificate, was, at a time or during a period so specified:is required, without proof of the signature of the person by whom the certificate purports to have been signed, to be received by the Board, a Committee and all courts as prima facie evidence of that fact.(i) imposed on the registration of a person so specified, or(ii) revoked or not in force,
12 Certain complaints may not be heard
(1) The Board or a Committee may decide not to conduct an inquiry, or at any time to terminate an inquiry, if:(a) a complainant fails to comply with a requirement made of the complainant by the Board or Committee, or(b) the person about whom the complaint is made ceases to be a pharmacist.(2) The Board or a Committee is not to conduct or continue any inquiry or any appeal if the pharmacist concerned dies.