(1) In deciding whether an individual is a suitable person to hold a licence, the chief health officer must have regard to the following:
(a) the knowledge, experience and training of the individual in relation to the regulated substances or regulated therapeutic goods to which the licence relates;
(b) the dealings to which the licence relates;
(c) whether the individual or a close associate of the individual, or a corporation of which the individual was at the relevant time an executive officer, has—
(i) supplied information or a document in relation to this Act that is false or misleading in a material particular; or
(ii) contravened this Act or a corresponding law, whether or not the individual, associate or corporation has been convicted or found guilty of an offence for the contravention; or
(iii) failed to comply with a condition of a licence under this Act or a licence (however described) under a corresponding law, whether or not the individual, associate or corporation has been convicted or found guilty of an offence for the failure;
(d) anything prescribed by regulation.
Note A reference to an Act includes a reference to statutory instruments made or in force under the Act, including any regulation and any law or instrument applied, adopted or incorporated by the Act (see Legislation Act, s 104).
(2) However, an individual is not a suitable person to hold a licence if—
(a) the individual, a close associate of the individual, or a corporation of which the individual was at the relevant time an executive officer, has been convicted or found guilty of any of the following in the 5-year period before the day the application for the licence is made:
(i) an offence against this Act;
(ii) an offence in Australia or elsewhere in relation to a regulated substance or regulated therapeutic good; or
(b) the individual, or a close associate of the individual, is an undischarged bankrupt or, at any time in the 5-year period before the day the application for the licence is made—
(i) was an undischarged bankrupt; or
(ii) executed a personal insolvency agreement; or
(c) at any time in the 5-year period before the day the application for the licence is made, the individual, or a close associate of the individual, was involved in the management of a corporation when—
(i) the corporation became the subject of a winding-up order; or
(ii) an administrator was appointed for the corporation; or
(d) a circumstance prescribed by regulation applies in relation to the individual or a close associate of the individual.
(3) Despite subsection (2), the chief health officer may decide that an individual is a suitable person to hold a licence if satisfied that—
(a) the individual's dealings with regulated substances or regulated therapeutic goods authorised, or to be authorised, by the licence would not be inconsistent with the objects of this Act if the chief health officer decided that the individual is a suitable person; and
(b) it is otherwise in the public interest that the individual be treated as a suitable person.