Penalties and proceedings

4.—(1) Any person guilty of an offence under regulation 2 above or under paragraph 2(b) or (c) of the Schedule to these Regulations shall be liable—

(a)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine, or both;

(b)on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or both.

(2) Any person guilty of an offence under paragraph 2(a) of the Schedule to these Regulations shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or both.

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

(4) Proceedings against any person for an offence under these Regulations may be taken before the appropriate court in the United Kingdom having jurisdiction in the place where that person is for the time being.

(5) No proceedings for an offence under these Regulations, other than a summary offence, shall be instituted in England, Wales or Northern Ireland except by or with the consent of the Secretary of State, the Treasury or the Attorney General or, as the case may be, the Attorney General for Northern Ireland: