(1)All offences under this Act made punishable by any fine may be prosecuted under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts, and proceedings under those Acts in respect of any such offence may, notwithstanding anything to the contrary therein, be taken by the Director of Public Prosecutions or by the Board of Trade at any time within twelve months from the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the Director or the Board, as the case may be, to justify the proceedings comes to his or their knowledge:
Provided that proceedings shall not be so taken more than three years after the commission of the offence.
(2)For the purposes of the foregoing subsection, a certificate of the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Board of Trade as to the date on which such evidence as aforesaid came to his or their knowledge shall be conclusive evidence thereof.
(3)In the application of this section to Scotland, any reference to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the first reference to the Board of Trade shall be omitted, and for any reference to evidence sufficient to justify proceedings there shall be substituted a reference to evidence sufficient to justify a report to the Lord Advocate with a view to consideration of the question of proceedings.
(4)Subsection (1) of this section, so far as it relates to the time within which proceedings may be taken, and subsections (2) and (3) thereof shall apply to proceedings in respect of offences under the Companies Act, 1929, or the Companies Act, 1947, that may be prosecuted under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts as it applies to proceedings in respect of the offences mentioned in the said subsection (1):
Provided that this subsection shall not have effect in relation to any proceedings if the time allowed under the said Acts apart from this section for taking them had already expired before the commencement of this Act.