14 Offences and penalties.U.K.
(1)Any person guilty of an offence under this Act shall be liable—
(a)on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, or to both such imprisonment and such fine; or
(b)on conviction on indictment, to [F1imprisonment] for a term not exceeding five years or to a fine not exceeding five hundred pounds, or to both such penal servitude and such fine.
(2)Where a person convicted on indictment of an offence under this Act is a body corporate, the provision of the foregoing subsection limiting the amount of the fine which may be imposed shall not apply and the body corporate shall be liable to a fine of such amount as the court thinks just.
(3)Where any offence under this Act has been committed by a body corporate, every person who at the time of the commission of the offence was a director, general manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or was purporting to act in any such capacity, shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence, unless he proves that the offence was committed without his consent or connivance and that he exercised all such diligence to prevent the commission of the offence as he ought to have exercised having regard to the nature of his functions in that capacity and to all the circumstances.
(4)Proceedings in respect of an offence under section eleven of this Act shall not be instituted, in England or Wales, except by, or with the consent of, the Director of Public Prosecutions, or, in Northern Ireland, except by, or with the consent of, the Attorney General for Northern Ireland.
Textual Amendments
F1Words substituted by virtue of (E.W.) Criminal Justice Act 1948 (c. 58), s. 1(1), (S.) by Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1949 (c. 94), s. 16(1) and (N.I.) by Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1953 (c. 14), s. 1(1)