A contravention or failure to comply with any of the provisions of regulations 2(1) or 3(1), without reasonable excuse shall be an offence.

For the purposes of these Regulations, ‘reasonable excuse’ shall include failure to register timeously due to the actings or otherwise of a third party and it shall be a defence that persons exercised all due diligence and took all reasonable steps to avoid committing the offence.

For the purposes of paragraph 2 above, ‘persons’ means the provider of a care service or person so employed in terms of Regulations 2 (1) and 3(1).