Medicines Act 1981

Enforcement

79: Liability of principal for acts of agents, etc

You could also call this:

"Being in charge means you're responsible for what your workers do"

You can be held responsible if someone working for you breaks the law. This is because you are in charge of them. You are responsible in the same way as if you did it yourself. If you are taken to court, you can defend yourself if you can prove you did not know about the offence. You must also show you tried to stop it from happening. This is your chance to explain what happened. If a company breaks the law, the people in charge can also be guilty. This includes directors and managers who knew about the offence. They must have tried to stop it or they can be held responsible too.

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This page was last updated on 27 October 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM56079.

Topics:

Work and jobs > Worker rightsCrime and justice > Criminal lawBusiness > Industry rules

78: General penalty, or

"Breaking the law with no specific penalty can mean prison or a fine."

80: Strict liability, or

"You can be found guilty of selling bad medicine even if you didn't mean to break the law."

Part 5Enforcement

79Liability of principal for acts of agents, etc

Where an offence is committed against this Act or against any regulations made under this Act by any person acting as the agent or employee of another person, that other person shall, without prejudice to the liability of the first-mentioned person, be liable under this Act in the same manner and to the same extent as if he had personally committed the offence.
Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1), where any proceedings are brought by virtue of that subsection it shall be a good defence to the charge if the defendant proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge and that he took all reasonable steps to prevent the commission of the offence.
Where any body corporate is convicted of an offence against this Act or against any regulations made under this Act, every director and every person concerned in the management of the body corporate shall be guilty of a like offence if it is proved that the act that constituted the offence took place with his authority, permission, or consent, or that he knew the offence was to be or was being committed and failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent or stop it.

Compare

1969 No 7 s 30
1979 No 27 s 63