Petroleum and Submarine Pipe-lines Act 1975

29 Criminal proceedings

(1) Proceedings for an offence under subsection (1) of the preceding section or created by regulations made by virtue of this Part of this Act (hereafter in this section referred to as a " relevant offence ") may be taken, and the offence may for incidental purposes be treated as having been committed, in any place in the United Kingdom.

(2) No proceedings shall be instituted in England and Wales or Northern Ireland for a relevant offence alleged to have been committed in, under or over controlled waters except—

(a) in the case of proceedings in England and Wales, by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions; or

(b) in the case of proceedings in Northern Ireland, by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland ; or

(c) in any case, by the Secretary of State or a person authorised by him in that behalf.

(3) In proceedings for a relevant offence an averment in the information, complaint or indictment that anything was done or situated in, under or over controlled waters shall, unless the contrary is proved, be sufficient evidence of the matter stated in the averment.

(4) Where a relevant offence has been committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

In this subsection " director ", in relation to a body corporate which—

(a) is established by or under any enactment for the purpose of carrying on under public ownership any industry or part of an industry or undertaking; and

(b) is a body whose affairs are managed by its members,

means a member of the body corporate.

(5) In any proceedings for—

(a) an offence under subsection (1)(a) of the preceding section of executing works or using a pipe-line otherwise than in accordance with the terms of the relevant authorisation; or

(b) an offence under subsection (1)(b) of that section of contravening any provision of a notice,

it shall be a defence to prove that the accused used all due diligence to comply with those terms or, as the case may be, with that provision.

(6) Section 3 of the [1878 c. 73.] Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act 1878 (which relates to consents for prosecutions) shall not apply to any proceedings for a relevant offence.