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Offences.
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5.—(1) A person who contravenes or is deemed to contravene a provision of this Act or of an order under this Act shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both the fine and the imprisonment or, in the case of a person who contravenes a provision of an order aforesaid, on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding two thousand pounds or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both the fine and the imprisonment.
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(2) Where a person is charged with an offence under this Act in relation to the quantity of goods packed in a container, it shall be a defence to the charge for him to show that the quantity of goods in the container at the time of the packing or importation of the goods was in compliance with the provisions of the Act and that any variation in such quantity was caused by matters for which reasonable allowance had been made at the time of the packing of the goods.
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(3) Where, in relation to goods, a person other than the person who packed or imported the goods is charged with an offence under this Act, it shall be a defence to the charge for him to show that he dealt in the goods in good faith and took reasonable precautions to ensure that the quantities of the goods packed in containers complied with the provisions of this Act and (if the offence consists of the contravention of a provision of a kind specified in section 2 (1) (a) or section 2 (1) (c) of this Act) that the containers bore notices which complied with the provisions of this Act.
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(4) Where a person is charged with an offence under this Act in relation to goods packed in a container, it shall be a defence to the charge for him to show—
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(a) that he took reasonable precautions against committing, in relation to the goods, an offence of the kind with which he is charged,
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(b) that at the time of the commission of the alleged offence, he had no reason to suspect that the packing, importation or sale, as the case may be, of the goods was in contravention of the provisions of this Act or of an order under this Act, and
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(c) that the packing, importation or sale, as the case may be, of the goods in contravention of the provisions of this Act or of an order under this Act, was due to a cause beyond his control.
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