18.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (4) to (6), if—
(a)spectators are admitted to a regulated stand at a sports ground on an occasion when no safety certificate which covers their use of the stand is in operation for it, or
(b)any term or condition of a safety certificate for a regulated stand at a sports ground is contravened,
any responsible person and, if a safety certificate is in operation, the holder of the certificate, shall be guilty of an offence.
(2) In paragraph (1) “responsible person” means the person who is concerned in the management of the sports ground or of the regulated stand in question or in the organisation of any activity taking place at the ground at the time when an offence is alleged to have been committed.
(3) A person guilty of an offence under paragraph (1) shall be liable—
(a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum; or
(b)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine, or to both.
(4) No offence under paragraph (1)(a) is committed if—
(a)the determination that the stand is a regulated stand is not a final one, or
(b)an application has been made for a general safety certificate for the stand and has not been withdrawn or deemed to have been withdrawn; or
(c)spectators are admitted to the stand in connection with an entertainment to which paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 (NI 15) applies (outdoor musical events) and a licence under that paragraph is in force in respect of the provision of that entertainment at the sports ground in question.
(5) Where any person is charged with an offence under paragraph (1) it shall be a defence to prove—
(a)that the spectators were admitted or the contravention of the certificate in question took place without his consent; and
(b)that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of such an offence by himself or any person under his control.
(6) Where any person is charged as a responsible person with an offence under paragraph (1)(a) it shall be a defence to prove that he did not know of the determination that the stand in relation to which the offence is alleged to have been committed is a regulated stand.
(7) Any person who in purporting to carry out a requirement under Article 15(12) or for the purpose of procuring a safety certificate or the cancellation, amendment, replacement or transfer of a safety certificate knowingly or recklessly—
(a)makes a false statement; or
(b)produces, furnishes, signs or otherwise makes use of a document containing a false statement,
shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.