WhereF2 [F3 an indictment has been presented] against a corporation in respect of any offence, the corporation may, on arraignment before the court, enter in writing by its representative a plea of guilty or not guilty, and if either the corporation does not appear by a representative or, though it does so appear, fails to enter as aforesaid any plea, the court shall order a plea of not guilty to be entered and the trial shall proceed as though the corporation had duly entered a plea of not guilty.

Any summons or other document to be served on any corporation charged with an indictable offence may be served upon the corporation by leaving it at, or sending it by post to, the registered office of the corporation or, if there be no such office in Northern Ireland, by leaving it at or sending it to the corporation at any place in Northern Ireland at which it trades or conducts its business.

In this section the expression “representative” in relation to a corporation means a person duly appointed by the corporation to represent it for the purpose of doing any act or thing which the representative of a corporation is by this section authorised to do, but a person so appointed shall not, by virtue only of being so appointed, be qualified to act on behalf of the corporation before any court for any other purpose.

A representative for the purposes of this section need not be appointed under the seal of the corporation, and a statement in writing purporting to be signed by a managing director of the corporation, or by any person (by whatever name called) having, or being one of the persons having, the management of the affairs of the corporation, to the effect that the person named in the statement has been appointed as the representative of the corporation for the purposes of this section shall be admissible without further proof as prima facie evidence that that person has been so appointed.