Cap. 437 Art. 61Administrative penalties.

(1) Where the Director has reasonable cause to believe that -

(a) an offence against this Act or any regulations made thereunder has been committed by any person; and

(b) having regard to the previous conduct of the person concerned, it would be appropriate to impose a penalty under this article, he may cause a notice in writing in accordance with subarticle (2) in the appropriate form to be served on that person.

(2) A notice under subarticle (1) shall specify -

(a) the date and nature of the offence;

(b) a summary of the facts upon which the allegation that an offence has been committed is based (being a sufficient summary fully and fairly to inform the person of the allegation against him);

(c) any other matters (not being previous convictions) that the Director considers relevant to the imposition of a penalty;

(d) the amount of the penalty due, and where the penalty due depends on a previous conviction, the date of such conviction; and

(e) any necessary remedial steps to be taken by the person to whom the notice is addressed to be in compliance with the requirements of this Act or any regulations made thereunder, and shall be endorsed on a statement setting out the provisions of this article.

(3) Any person on whom a notice under subarticle (1) is served may, within thirty days after such service by notice in writing in the appropriate form served on the Director, require that proceedings in respect of the alleged offence shall be dealt with by the Court, in which case the following provisions shall apply:

(a) no further proceedings shall be taken under this article by the Director; and

(b) nothing in this article shall be construed to prevent the institution of any proceedings in respect of the alleged offence or the conviction of the person for the offence by the Court or the imposition of any penalty or forfeiture under this Act or any regulations made thereunder upon such conviction.

(4) Any person on whom a notice under subarticle (1) is served who does not wish that proceedings in respect of the alleged offence shall be dealt with by the Court may by notice in writing served on the Director -

(a) admit the offence;

(b) carry out all the necessary remedial steps which may be indicated in the notice served in terms of sub-article (1); and.

(c) pay the amount of the penalty to the Director within thirty (30) days after the notice of the penalty is served or after such subsequent period as the Director may determine."

(5) Where under this article a person admits an offence and carries out all the necessary remedial steps requested in the notice in accordance with sub-article (2), the Director shall impose a monetary penalty on that person in respect of the offence amounting to one third of the maximum penalty to which the person would be liable if he were convicted of the offence by the Court.

(6) The penalty imposed under subarticle (5) shall be due as a civil debt enforceable by the competent Court of civil jurisdiction in favour of the Government and the declaration by the person on whom the penalty is imposed that he admits the charge shall constitute an executive title for the purposes of article 253 of the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure in the same manner as if it were a judgement of the competent Court of civil jurisdiction.

(7) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act or of any other enactment, where an offence has been admitted under this article and all requested necessary remedial steps have been taken by the person admitting such offence to be in compliance with the requirements of this Act or any regulations made thereunder no charge may be laid in respect of the offence against any person by whom it has been admitted.

(8) Where a person on whom a notice under sub-article (1) is served does not, within thirty (30) days after the notice is served on him, admit the offence and take all requested necessary remedial steps to be in compliance with the requirements of this Act or any regulations made thereunder, the Director shall institute proceedings or cause proceedings to be instituted before the Court in respect of the alleged offence.