Supply and inspection of absent voting lists: offences
21.—(1) A person (“P”) is guilty of an offence—
(a)if P contravenes paragraph 16(4), 17(5), 19(3) or 20(2); or
(b)if P is an appropriate supervisor of a person (“Q”) who contravenes any of those provisions and P failed to take appropriate steps.
(2) Q is not guilty of an offence under sub-paragraph (1) if—
(a)Q had an appropriate supervisor, and
(b)Q has complied with all the requirements imposed on Q by Q’s appropriate supervisor.
(3) A person (“R”) who is not Q or an appropriate supervisor is not guilty of an offence under sub-paragraph (1) if R takes all reasonable steps to ensure that R complies with the provisions specified in sub-paragraph (1)(a).
(4) In sub-paragraphs (1)(b), (2) and (3)—
(a)an appropriate supervisor is a person who is a director of a company or concerned in the management of an organisation in which Q is employed or under whose direction or control Q is;
(b)appropriate steps are such steps as it was reasonable for the appropriate supervisor to take to secure the operation of procedures designed to prevent, so far as reasonably practicable, the occurrence of a failure to comply with the provisions specified in sub-paragraph (1)(a).
(5) A person guilty of an offence as mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.