Airports Act 1986

50 Breach of accounts conditions: criminal penalties etc.

(1) Any airport operator who fails to comply with any condition imposed in accordance with section 40(2)(a) (in pursuance of either section 40(1) or section 41(1)) shall be guilty of an offence and liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum;

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine.

(2) Any airport operator who, in the case of any condition imposed in accordance with section 40(2)(b) (in pursuance of either section 40(1) or section 41(1)), fails to comply with that condition before the end of the period allowed for compliance with it by virtue of that or any other such condition shall be guilty of an offence and liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the fifth level on the standard scale; and

(b) on a second or subsequent summary conviction, to a fine of one-tenth of the amount corresponding to that level for each day on which the contravention is continued.

(3) Where an airport operator has failed to comply with any such condition as is mentioned in subsection (1) above, then (whether or not proceedings are brought under that subsection in respect of that contravention) the CAA may impose, in relation to the airport to which the contravention relates, such conditions as the CAA considers appropriate with respect to the publication of any matter to whose non-disclosure the contravention relates ; and if the airport operator fails to comply with any condition so imposed before the end of the period allowed for compliance with it by virtue of that or any other such condition he shall be guilty of an offence and liable as mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (2).

(4) In any proceedings for an offence under this section it shall be a defence for the person charged to prove—

(a) in the case of an offence under subsection (1), that he took all reasonable steps for securing compliance with the condition in question ;

(b) in the case of an offence under subsection (2) or (3), that he took all reasonable steps for securing compliance with the condition in question before the end of the period mentioned in that subsection.

(5) Any reference in this section to an airport operator failing to comply with a condition is a reference to his failing to do so in contravention of section 39(1).