Broadcasting Authority Act, 1960
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THIRD SCHEDULE. Subsection And Sections Inserted In Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1926. | ||
Part I. | ||
Subsection inserted after Subsection (1) of Section 5. | ||
(1A) The Minister may by order (which he may at any time revoke by a further order) declare that the grant of licences under this Act in respect of apparatus for receiving only, and the collection on behalf of the Minister of fees on such grants, shall be carried out by Radio Éireann and, so long as any such order remains in force,— | ||
(i) such grant and collection shall, notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, be carried out by Radio Éireann and not otherwise, | ||
(ii) Radio Éireann shall have all powers appropriate for enforcing subsection (1) of section 3 of this Act in relation to apparatus for receiving only, | ||
(iii) sections 7 and 8 of this Act shall have effect in relation to apparatus for receiving only as if each reference therein to the Minister included a reference to Radio Éireann, and | ||
(iv) prosecutions under subsection (3) of section 3 of this Act in relation to apparatus for receiving only, and prosecutions under subsection (3) of section 7 of this Act in relation to a notice served by Radio Éireann, shall, notwithstanding section 13 of this Act, be prosecuted by the Minister or Radio Éireann and not otherwise. | ||
Part II. | ||
Sections inserted after Section 12 . | ||
Regulations as to radiation of electro-magnetic energy, etc. | ||
12A. (1) The Minister may make regulations for both or either of the following purposes: | ||
(a) for prescribing the requirements to be complied with in the case of any apparatus to which this section applies if the apparatus is to be used; | ||
(b) for prescribing the requirements to be complied with in the case of any apparatus to which this section applies if the apparatus is to be sold otherwise than for export, or offered or advertised for sale otherwise than for export, or let on hire or offered or advertised for letting on hire, by any person who in the course of business manufactures, assembles or imports such apparatus. | ||
(2) The said requirements shall be such requirements as the Minister thinks fit for the purpose of ensuring that the use of the apparatus does not cause undue interference with wireless telegraphy, and may in particular include— | ||
(a) requirements as to the maximum intensity of electro-magnetic energy of any specified frequencies which may be radiated in any direction from the apparatus while it is being used; and | ||
(b) in the case of an apparatus the power for which is supplied from electric lines, requirements as to the maximum electro-magnetic energy of any specified frequencies which may be injected into those lines by the apparatus, and, in so far as appears to the Minister necessary or expedient in the case of the regulations in question, different requirements may be prescribed for different circumstances and in relation to different classes or descriptions of apparatus, different districts or places and different times of use. | ||
(3) The apparatus to which this section applies shall be such apparatus as may be specified in the regulations made thereunder, being apparatus generating, or designed to generate, or liable to generate fortuitously, electro-magnetic energy at frequencies of not more than three million megacycles per second, and not being wireless telegraphy apparatus. | ||
The references in this subsection to apparatus include references to any form of electric line. | ||
(4) Where the Minister proposes to make regulations under this section— | ||
(a) he shall cause a draft of the proposed regulations to be prepared and shall cause the draft to be published and placed on sale by the Stationery Office, | ||
(b) he shall give notice to the public, in such manner as he considers suitable, of his intention to make the regulations, | ||
(c) the notice shall contain an intimation that copies of the draft of the regulations are available for purchase and that, during a specified period of not less than two months, representations suggesting variations of the draft may be made to the Minister. | ||
(5) Regulations under this section shall not be made until after the expiration of the period for making representations specified in the relevant notice under paragraph (b) of subsection (4) of this section and the Minister shall consider any representations made to him pursuant to the notice. | ||
(6) (a) The Minister may appoint an advisory committee or advisory committees to advise him in relation to the making of regulations under this section and in relation to the consideration of representations referred to in the foregoing subsection. | ||
(b) A committee under this subsection shall consist of so many members (not being less than three) as the Minister considers proper. | ||
(c) A member of a committee under this subsection shall, unless he previously dies or resigns, retain his membership of the committee for the period determined by the Minister when appointing him and no longer, but shall be eligible for re-appointment. | ||
(d) A committee under this subsection shall meet whenever summoned by the Minister. | ||
(7) Whenever the Minister is of opinion that a person is working or using apparatus not complying with the requirements applicable to it under regulations made for the purposes specified in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section, he may serve on or send by registered post to such person a notice— | ||
(a) requiring such person to take such steps (including where necessary the complete stoppage of the working or user of the apparatus) as shall be specified in the notice to terminate the relevant undue interference with wireless telegraphy, and | ||
(b) requiring such person to take the said steps either— | ||
(i) forthwith in a case in which the Minister is of opinion that the relevant undue interference with wireless telegraphy consists of or includes undue interference with wireless telegraphy used for the purposes of any safety of life service or any purpose on which the safety of any person or of any vessel, aircraft or vehicle may depend, and | ||
(ii) in any other case, within a period (not being less than seven days) specified in the notice. | ||
(8) (a) Where— | ||
(i) a notice under subsection (7) of this section has been served on or sent to a person and the notice requires the complete stoppage forthwith of the working or user of apparatus, and | ||
(ii) such person works or uses the apparatus, | ||
such person shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(b) Where— | ||
(i) a notice under subsection (7) of this section has been served on or sent to a person and the notice requires the complete stoppage, within a specified period, of the working or user of apparatus, and | ||
(ii) such person works or uses the apparatus after the expiration of that period, | ||
such person shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(c) Where— | ||
(i) a notice under subsection (7) of this section has been served on or sent to a person and the notice requires the taking forthwith of steps to terminate undue interference with wireless telegraphy by any apparatus (not being steps consisting of the complete stoppage of the working or user of the apparatus), and | ||
(ii) such person works or uses the apparatus without having taken the said steps, | ||
such person shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(d) Where— | ||
(i) a notice under subsection (7) of this section has been served on or sent to a person and the notice requires the taking, within a specified period, of steps to terminate undue interference with wireless telegraphy by any apparatus (not being steps consisting of the complete stoppage of the working or user of the apparatus), and | ||
(ii) such person works or uses the apparatus without having taken the said steps, | ||
such person shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(9) Whenever the Minister is of opinion that any apparatus does not comply with the requirements applicable to it under regulations made for the purposes specified in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section, he may serve on or send by registered post to any person who has manufactured, assembled or imported the apparatus in the course of business a notice prohibiting him, as from the expiration of a period (not being less than seven days) specified in the notice, from selling the apparatus, otherwise than for export, or offering or advertising it for sale, otherwise than for export, or letting it on hire or advertising it for letting on hire. | ||
(10) Where— | ||
(a) a notice under subsection (9) of this section has been served on or sent to a person, and | ||
(b) after the expiration of the period specified in the notice, such person contravenes the provisions of the notice, | ||
such person shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(11) (a) A Justice of the District Court may, upon information on oath of an officer of the Minister or of a member of the Garda Síochána that there is reasonable ground for believing that, at any specified place, apparatus to which this section applies is to be found which does not comply with the requirements applicable to it under regulations made under this section, grant to such officer of the Minister or (with the consent of the Minister) to such member of the Garda Síochána a search warrant which shall be expressed and shall operate to authorise the officer of the Minister or member of the Garda Síochána to whom it is granted to enter, and if need be by force, the place named in the said information and there to search for apparatus to which this section applies and to examine and test all such apparatus there found. | ||
(b) A search warrant granted under this subsection to an officer of the Minister may authorise or, if the Justice granting it so thinks proper, require such officer to be accompanied by one or more members of the Garda Síochána when making the search under the warrant. | ||
(c) Where, under a warrant under this section, a person has a right to examine and test any apparatus at any place, it shall be the duty of any person who is at that place to give him any such assistance as he may reasonably require in the examination or testing of the apparatus. | ||
(d) Any person who— | ||
(i) obstructs any person in the exercise of the powers conferred on him by a warrant under this subsection, or | ||
(ii) fails or refuses to give to any such person any assistance which he is under this subsection under a duty to give to him, | ||
shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(12) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds together with, in the case of a continuing offence, a further fine not exceeding five pounds for every day during which the offence is continued. | ||
(13) The Minister may by order (which he may at any time revoke by a further order) declare that Radio Éireann shall have all powers appropriate for the investigation and detection of interference with wireless telegraphy apparatus for receiving only and, whenever such an order is for the time being in force,— | ||
(a) Radio Éireann shall have those powers, | ||
(b) subsection (2) of section 12 of this Act and subsection (7) of this section shall have effect as if each of the references therein to the Minister included a reference to Radio Éireann, and | ||
(c) subsection (11) of this section shall have effect as if each of the references therein to the Minister included, in relation to regulations made for the purposes specified in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section, a reference to Radio Éireann. | ||
Deliberate interference. | ||
12B. (1) Any person who uses any apparatus for the purpose of interfering with any wireless telegraphy shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(2) Subsection (1) of this section shall apply whether or not the apparatus in question is wireless telegraphy apparatus or apparatus to which section 12A of this Act applies and whether or not any notice under subsection (7) or subsection (9) of that section has been given with respect to the apparatus. | ||
(3) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds together with, in the case of a continuing offence, a further fine not exceeding five pounds for every day during which the offence is continued. |