Counter-Inflation Act 1973

17Offences

(1)If a person contravenes any of the provisions of Part II or Part III of this Act, or of any order or notice under Part II or Part III of this Act, he shall be liable—

(a)on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £400, and

(b)on conviction on indictment to a fine.

(2)If an organisation of workers, or any other organisation or other person, by taking any action described in subsection (3) below, exercises any pressure on an employer to contravene section 5 or 7 of this Act, that person shall be liable—

(a)on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £400, and

(b)on conviction on indictment to a fine.

(3)The action referred to in subsection (2) above is—

(a)calling, organising, procuring or financing a strike, or threatening to do so, or

(b)organising, procuring or financing any irregular industrial action short of a strike, or threatening to do so.

(4)Where, under subsection (4) of section 7 of this Act, the Pay Board have given notice of their intention to make or give an order or notice under that section then, for the purposes of subsection (2) above, the giving of the notice under the said subsection (4) shall be treated as if it constituted the making or giving of the order or notice to which it relates.

(5)A person who—

(a)refuses or wilfully neglects to comply with an order or notice under section 15 of this Act, or

(b)in furnishing any estimate or other information in compliance with such an order or notice, makes any statement which he knows to be false in a material particular, or recklessly makes any statement which is false in a material particular, or

(c)with intent to deceive, produces in compliance with such an order or notice a document which is false in a material particular, or

(d)in keeping any records in compliance with an order under section 15 of this Act makes an entry which he knows to be false in a material particular, or recklessly makes any entry which is false in a material particular, or

(e)in furnishing information in connection with an application for approval under Schedule 2 to this Act, or for consent under any provision of this Act, makes any statement, or produces or makes use of any document, which to his knowledge is or may be misleading, false or deceptive in a material particular,

shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £400.

(6)Subject to subsection (7) below, where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(7)In proceedings for an offence under subsection (2) or paragraph (a) of subsection (5) above against an official of a trade union in respect of action taken by him in his capacity as such an official it shall be a defence to show that he was acting within the scope of his authority on behalf of the trade union.

This subsection shall have effect in relation to an organisation which is for the time being entered in the special register under section 84 of the [1971 c. 72.] Industrial Relations Act 1971 as it has effect in relation to a trade union.

(8)Nothing contained in or having effect under this Act, and nothing made illegal by this section, shall give rise to any criminal or tortious liability for conspiracy, or to any other liability in tort; and nothing which is made illegal by this Act shall constitute an unfair industrial practice within the meaning of the Industrial Relations Act 1971.

(9)Proceedings for an offence under this Act shall not be instituted in England or Wales except by or with the consent of the Attorney General, or in Northern Ireland except by or with the consent of the Attorney General for Northern Ireland.

(10)In this section—

(a)" irregular industrial action short of a strike " has the meaning given by section 33(4) of the Industrial Relations Act 1971,

(b)" strike " has the meaning given by section 167(1) of that Act, and

(c)" within the scope of his authority " shall be construed in accordance with section 167(9) of that Act.