Geneva Conventions (Amendment) Act, 1998
|
Amendment of section 4 of Principal Act. |
4.—(1) Section 4 (which relates to minor breaches of the Scheduled Conventions) of the Principal Act is hereby amended by— | |
(a) in subsection (1), the insertion after “Scheduled Conventions” of “or of Protocol I or Protocol II”, | ||
(b) the insertion after subsection (1) of the following subsection: | ||
“(1A) Any person, whatever his or her nationality, who, in the State, fails to act, when under a duty to do so, to prevent the commission by another person of a minor breach of any of the Scheduled Conventions or Protocol I or Protocol II shall be guilty of an offence.”, | ||
(c) in subsection (2), the insertion after “Scheduled Conventions” of “or of Protocol I or Protocol II”, | ||
(d) the insertion after subsection (2) of the following subsection: | ||
“(2A) Any citizen of Ireland who, outside the State, fails to act, when under a duty to do so, to prevent the commission by another person of a minor breach of any of the Scheduled Conventions or Protocol I or Protocol II shall be guilty of an offence.”, | ||
(e) in paragraph (a) of subsection (3), the substitution for “six” of “12” and for “fifty pounds” of “£1,500”, | ||
(f) in paragraph (b) of subsection (3), the substitution for “three hundred pounds” of “£15,000”, and | ||
(g) the substitution for subsection (4) of the following: | ||
“(4) In this section ‘minor breach’ means— | ||
(a) contravention of a provision of any of the Scheduled Conventions or of Protocol I which is not any such grave breach of that Convention or that Protocol as is mentioned in the relevant Article thereof referred to in section 3 of this Act, or | ||
(b) a contravention of Protocol II.”. | ||
(2) Notwithstanding section 10 (4) of the Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851 , summary proceedings for an offence under section 4 of the Principal Act may be instituted within two years from the date of the offence. |