Antarctic Minerals Act 1989

10 Offences under Act

(1) Any person who—

(a) carries on an activity in contravention of section 1(1) above;

(b) for the purpose of obtaining a licence (for himself or another), knowingly or recklessly makes a statement which is false in a material particular;

(c) being a licensee, fails to comply with the conditions of his licence;

(d) fails to comply with such provisions of regulations made under section 6 above as may be prescribed;

(e) fails to comply with a direction under section 7 above; or

(f) discloses any information in contravention of section 9 above,

shall be liable on conviction on indictment to a fine and on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum.

(2) Proceedings for an offence under this Act may be taken, and the offence may for incidental purposes be treated as having been committed, in any place in the United Kingdom.

(3) Proceedings for an offence under this Act shall not be instituted in England and Wales or Northern Ireland except by the Secretary of State, by a person authorised by him in that behalf or—

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

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

(4) Where an offence under this Act 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) a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate; or

(b) 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 whose affairs are managed by its members, means a member of the body corporate.

(5) In any proceedings for an offence under paragraph (a), (c), (d) or (e) of subsection (1) above, it shall be a defence to prove that the accused took all reasonable precautions to avoid the commission of the offence.