Liability for offences relating to Article 8 of the Principal Regulation
4.—(1) A person is not guilty of an offence under paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 if that person proves that, at the time the alleged offence was committed, that person had no reason to believe that the specimen was a specimen of a species listed in Annex A or, as the case may be, Annex B.
(3) A person is not guilty of an offence relating to Article 8 of the Principal Regulation if that person—
(a)is a constable or a person acting at the request or on behalf of the management authority, and
(b)purchases, or offers to purchase, a specimen for a purpose connected with the enforcement of these Regulations.
(4) A person is not guilty of an offence under paragraph 1(2) of Schedule 1, involving contravention of Article 8.5 of the Principal Regulation, if that person proves—
(a)that reasonable enquiries were made when that person came into possession of the specimen in order to ascertain whether it was imported lawfully or acquired lawfully, and
(b)that at the time the alleged offence was committed that person had no reason to believe that the specimen was imported unlawfully or acquired unlawfully.
(5) A person is to be taken to have made the enquiries mentioned in paragraph (3)(a) if that person produces a statement to the court provided by the person from whom possession of the specimen was obtained (“the supplier”), signed by the supplier or by a person authorised by the supplier, which states that—
(a)the supplier made enquiries at the time when the specimen came into the supplier’s possession in order to ascertain whether it was a specimen which had been imported lawfully or acquired lawfully, and
(b)the supplier had no reason to believe at the time when possession passed to the accused that the specimen was at that time a specimen which had been imported unlawfully or acquired unlawfully.
(6) A person must not provide a false statement for the purposes of paragraph (4).