Gas Act 1972

43 Provisions as to prosecutions, and as to offences by corporations

(1) Proceedings for an offence under section 42(1) above or any regulation made under this Act shall not in England and Wales be instituted except by or with the consent of the Secretary of State or by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

(2) In England and Wales, any proceedings before a court of summary jurisdiction—

(a) for an offence against any regulations made under section 31 above, or for aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of such an offence, or

(b) for an offence under section 42(1) above relating to any information, claim or notice given or made for the purposes of any such regulations,

may, notwithstanding any enactment prescribing the time within which proceedings may be brought, be brought either within the time so prescribed or within three months from the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the Secretary of State to justify a prosecution for the offence comes to his knowledge, whichever is the longer; and for the purposes of this subsection a certificate purporting to be signed by the Secretary of State as to the date on which such evidence comes to his knowledge shall be conclusive evidence thereof.

(3) Summary proceedings in Scotland for an offence mentioned in the last foregoing subsection may notwithstanding the limitation in section 23(1) of the [1954 c. 48.] Summary Jurisdiction (Scotland) Act 1954 be commenced at any time within three months after the date on which evidence sufficient in the opinion of the Lord Advocate to justify a prosecution comes to his knowledge, or where such evidence was reported to him by the Secretary of State, within three months after the date on which it came to the knowledge of the Secretary of State and for the purposes of this subsection—

(a) a certificate purporting to be signed by or on behalf of the Lord Advocate or the Secretary of State, as the case may be, as to the date on which such evidence as aforesaid came to their knowledge shall be conclusive evidence; and

(b) section 23(2) of the said Act of 1954 shall have effect as it has effect for the purposes of that section.

(4) Where an offence under section 42(1) above or any regulations made under this Act which has been committed by a body corporate 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 or other similar officer of the body corporate, or 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 be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

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