Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023

3 Offences: penalties, prosecution and liability

(1) A person who commits an offence under this Act is liable—

(a) on summary conviction in England and Wales, to a fine;

(b) on summary conviction in Northern Ireland, to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

(2) The following do not apply in relation to offences under this Act—

(a) section 127 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 (limitation of time);

(b) article 19 of the Magistrates’ Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (S.I. 1981/1675 (N.I. 26)) (time limit for making complaint).

(3) Where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate—

(a) is committed with the consent or connivance 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, or

(b) is attributable to any neglect on the part of any such person,

that person as well as the body corporate commits the offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(4) In subsection (3) “director”, in relation to a body corporate whose affairs are managed by its members, means a member of the body corporate.

(5) Subsection (3) also applies to a body that is not a body corporate, with the substitution for the reference to a director of the body of a reference—

(a) in the case of a partnership, to a partner;

(b) in the case of an unincorporated body other than a partnership—

(i) where the body’s affairs are managed by its members, to a member of the body;

(ii) in any other case, to a member of the governing body.