Air Navigation and Transport Act, 1965

Penalties.

12.—(1) If—

(a) an aircraft flies in contravention of a provision of this Act or an order, regulation or direction under this Act,

(b) an aircraft fails to comply with a provision of this Act or an order or regulation under this Act, or

(c) an act is committed in respect of an aircraft which is a contravention of a provision of this Act or an order, regulation or direction under this Act,

the owner or hirer (not being the State) of the aircraft and also the person in command thereof shall be deemed to have contravened or, as the case may be, failed to comply with the provision.

(2) A person who contravenes or fails to comply with or who is deemed by this section to have contravened or failed to comply with a provision of this Act or an order, regulation or direction under this Act shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or, at the discretion of the Court, to both the imprisonment and the fine, or

(b) on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding one thousand pounds or, at the discretion of the Court, to both the imprisonment and the fine.

(3) In any prosecution of a person for an alleged contravention of or failure to comply with a provision of this Act or an order, regulation or direction under this Act it shall be a defence for the person to prove that the contravention or failure was due to stress of weather or other unavoidable cause, and in any prosecution of the owner, hirer or person in command of an aircraft for such alleged contravention or failure it shall be a defence for the owner, hirer or person in command to prove that the alleged contravention or failure took place without his actual default or privity.

(4) An offence under this Act may be prosecuted by or at the suit of the Minister as prosecutor.