3 Offences.

F2(1)If any person contravenes the provisions of this Act, he shall be liable, on summary conviction, F3to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale:

Provided that a person shall not be guilty of an offence by reason of the occurrence of such a contravention on any particular date, if he proves—

a

in a case where the contravention is occasioned by the fact that an application on the part of the defendant for registration under the principal Act has not been granted, that notice of the decision F4. . . not to grant the application had not been duly served under F4. . . the principal Act before the said date; or

F5b

in a case where the contravention is occasioned by the removal of the defendant’s name from the Register in circumstances in which notice is required to be served on him—

i

that the notice had not been duly served before that date,

ii

that the time for bringing an appeal against the removal had not expired at that date, or

iii

that such an appeal had been duly brought, but had not been determined, before that date.

F62

In relation to an offence under subsection (1)—

a

section 127(1) of the M1Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 (information to be laid within six months of offence);

b

Article 19(1) of the M2Magistrates’ Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (complaint to be made within that time); and

c

section 136(1) of the M3Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (proceedings to be commenced within that time),

shall have effect as if for the references in them to six months there were substituted references to two years.