Appendix VIII
Contents
MISCELLANEOUS
Offences VOICE suggests the Regulations should provide as follows:-
Any person who—
a. contravenes or fails to comply with a provision, or provisions, of the Regulations,
or
b. provides information which is false or to his or her knowledge misleading in a material way,
or
c. obstructs or interferes with an authorised person in the exercise of a power conferred by the Regulations
shall be guilty of an offence.
It should also be provided that where an offence under the Regulations is committed by a body corporate or by a person acting on behalf of a body corporate and is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of a person being a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that person as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he or she were guilty of the first-mentioned offence
Penalties and Prosecution
The Regulations should provide that a prosecution for a summary offence on account of contravention or failure to comply with the Regulations may be taken by either the EPA or relevant local authority as appropriate.
VOICE submits that the penalties under the Regulations should be equivalent to those applicable under other EPR legislation. Accordingly, we suggest the following penalties:
A person guilty of an offence under the Regulations should be liable on summary conviction to a Class A fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both,
or
on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €500,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years, or both.
As is standard in environmental legislation the Regulations should provide that where a person is convicted of an offence under these Regulations, the court shall, unless it is satisfied that there are special and substantial reasons for not so doing, order the person to pay to the Prosecutor, the costs and expenses, measured by the court, incurred by the Prosecutor in relation to the investigation, detection and prosecution of the offence, including costs and expenses incurred in the taking of samples, the carrying out of tests, examinations and analyses and in respect of the remuneration and other expenses of directors, employees, consultants and advisers engaged by the Prosecutor.