Requirement to registerN.I.
12.—(1) Any person who carries on or manages an establishment or agency of any description without being registered under this Part in respect of it (as an establishment or, as the case may be, agency of that description) shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) The reference in paragraph (1) to an agency does not include a reference to a voluntary adoption agency.
(3) The Department may by regulations make provision about the keeping of registers by the [F1RQIA] for the purposes of this Part.
(4) A person guilty of an offence under this Article shall be liable on summary conviction—
(a)if paragraph (5) does not apply, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale;
(b)if paragraph (5) applies, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or to both.
(5) This paragraph applies if—
(a)the person was registered in respect of the establishment or agency at a time before the commission of the offence but the registration was cancelled before the offence was committed; or
(b)the conviction is a second or subsequent conviction of the offence and the earlier conviction, or one of the earlier convictions, was of an offence in relation to an establishment or agency of the same description.
F1Words in Order substituted (11.4.2014) by Health and Social Care (Amendment) Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 (c. 5), Sch. para. 1(1)(b) (with Sch. para. 1(2))