The Offshore Combustion Installations (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Regulations 2001

Offences

18.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2) below, a person is guilty of an offence if he—

(a) operates a combustion installation without a permit;

(b) operates a combustion installation in breach of the terms of any condition attached to any permit;

(c) fails to comply with the terms of an enforcement notice or a prohibition notice;

(d) fails to supply any information required to be supplied by virtue of regulation 12 above, or by virtue of a notice served thereunder;

(e) fails to supply any information required to be supplied by virtue of the terms of any permit granted under these Regulations;

(f) knowingly or recklessly makes a statement which he knows to be false or misleading in a material particular where such a statement—

(i) is made in connection with, or for the purposes of, any application for a permit or the variation of a permit; or

(ii) is made for the purposes of satisfying any requirement under these Regulations for the supply of information to the Secretary of State or an inspector appointed pursuant to regulation 13(1) above;

(g) wilfully obstructs an inspector appointed under regulation 13(1) above; or

(h) without reasonable excuse fails to comply with an obligation imposed in pursuance of regulation 13(2) above or prevents another person from complying with such a requirement.

(2) It shall be a defence to a charge under paragraph (1)(b) or (1)(c) above if the person charged with an offence shows that the contravention—

(a) arose as a result of something which could not have been reasonably prevented by him; or

(b) was due to something done as a matter of urgency for the purposes of securing the safety of any person.

(3) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall on summary conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum and on conviction on indictment to a fine.

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

(5) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, paragraph (4) above shall apply in relation to the acts or defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate.

(6) Where the commission by any person of an offence under this regulation is due to the act or default of some other person, that other person may be charged with and convicted of the offence by virtue of this paragraph whether or not proceedings for the offence are taken against the first-mentioned person.

(7) Proceedings for an offence under this regulation may be taken, and the offence may for all incidental purposes be treated as having been committed, in any part of the United Kingdom.

(8) Section 3 of the Territorial Waters Jurisdiction Act 1878 (restriction on prosecutions)(1) shall not apply to any proceedings for an offence under this regulation.

(1)

1878 41 & 42 Vict. c. 73.