Civil Defence Act 1939

14 Duty of occupiers of factory premises and owners of mines and commercial buildings to make reports.

(1) It shall be the duty of every person who is the occupier of any factory premises, the owner of any mine or the owner of any commercial building—

(a) not later than three months from the appropriate date to make a report in writing, in the case of factory premises to the factory inspector for the district, in the case of a mine to the mines inspector for the district, and in the case of a commercial building, to the local authority, stating what measures he has taken or is taking or proposing to take to provide air-raid shelter for the persons working or living in the factory premises, working in or about the mine, or working or living in the commercial building, as the case may be;

(b) on the completion of any works mentioned in any such report which have not been begun or are still incomplete at the date of the report, to report their completion in writing to the said inspector or local authority, as the case may be.

(2) If any person fails to make a report which he is required to make under the preceding subsection, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, and, if the failure in respect of which he was so convicted continues after the conviction, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds for each day on which the failure so continues :

Provided that no person shall be convicted of an offence under this section in relation to any commercial building if he proves that he did not know, and had no reasonable ground for suspecting, that the building was a commercial building.

(3) In this section the expression " the appropriate date " means, in relation to any factory premises, mine or commercial building, whichever of the three following dates is the latest, that is to say—

(a) the first issue or approval of a code under the last preceding section;

(b) the making of an order applying this Part of this Act to, or to an area containing, the premises, mine or building;

(c) the fulfilment of the conditions specified in the definition of " factory premises ", " mine ", or " commercial building ", as the case may be, contained in the provisions of this Act defining those expressions for the general purposes thereof.