Australian Capital Territory Numbered Acts Australian Capital Territory Numbered Acts27. (1) A person contravenes this section if—
(a) the person is the promoter of, or (if there are more than one) one of the promoters of, or is a participant in, a trading scheme to which this section applies; and
(b) a person who is a participant in that trading scheme, or has applied or been invited to become a participant in that trading scheme, makes any payment to or for the benefit of the first-mentioned person, being a payment that he or she is induced to make by reason that the prospect is held out to him or her of receiving payments or other benefits in respect of the introduction (whether by himself or herself or by another person) of other persons who become participants in that trading scheme.
(2) A person also contravenes this section if—
(a) he or she is the promoter of, or (if there are more than one) one of the promoters of, is a participant in, or is otherwise acting in accordance with, a trading scheme to which this section applies; and
(b) he or she, by holding out to another person (“the second person”) the prospect of receiving payments or other benefits in respect of the introduction (whether by himself or herself or by a third person) of other persons who become participants in that trading scheme, attempts to induce the second person—
(i) if he or she is already a participant in that trading scheme, to make any payment to or for the benefit of the promoter or any of the promoters or to or for the benefit of a participant in that trading scheme; or
(ii) if he or she is not already a participant in that trading scheme, to become such a participant and to make a payment of a kind mentioned in subparagraph (i).
(3) A person also contravenes this section if he or she promotes, or takes part in the promotion of, a scheme under which—
(a) a payment is to be made by a person who participates, or who has applied or been invited to participate, in the scheme to or for the benefit of the person or another person who takes part in the promotion of the scheme or to or for the benefit of another person who participates in the scheme; and
(b) the inducement for making the payment is the holding out to the person who makes or is to make the payment the prospect of receiving payments from other persons who may participate in the scheme.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (1), (2) or (3)—
(a) a prospect of a kind mentioned in that subsection shall be taken to be held out to a person whether it is held out so as to confer on him or her a legally enforceable right or not;
(b) in determining whether an inducement or attempt to induce is made by holding out a prospect of a kind mentioned in that subsection, it is sufficient if a prospect of that kind constitutes or would constitute a substantial part of the inducement; and
(c) any reference to the making of a payment to or for the benefit of a person shall be construed as including the making of a payment partly to or for the benefit of that person and partly to or for the benefit of one or more other persons.
(5) For the purposes of this section, a scheme is a trading scheme to which this section applies if the scheme includes the following elements:
(a) goods or services, or both, are to be provided by the person promoting the scheme (in this section referred to as the “promoter”) or, in the case of a scheme promoted by two or more persons acting in concert (in this section referred to as the “promoters”), are to be provided by one or more of those persons;
(b) the goods or services so provided are to be supplied to or for other persons under transactions arranged or effected by persons who participate in the scheme (each of whom is in this section referred to as a “participant”), being persons not all of whom are promoters.
(6) For the purposes of subsection (5)—
(a) a scheme shall be taken to include the element referred to in paragraph (5) (b) whether a participant who is not a promoter acts in relation to a transaction referred to in that paragraph in the capacity of a servant or agent of the promoter or of one of the promoters or in any other capacity;
(b) a scheme includes any arrangements made in connection with the carrying on of a business, whether those arrangements are made or recorded wholly or partly in writing or not; and
(c) any reference to the provision of goods or services by a person shall be construed as including a reference to the provision of goods or services under arrangements to which that person is a party.