Use, etc., of chemical weapons
Open ↗8.—(1) Any person who —(a)
uses a chemical weapon;
(b)
develops or produces a chemical weapon;
(c)
acquires, stockpiles or retains a chemical weapon;
(d)
transfers, directly or indirectly, a chemical weapon to another person;
(e)
engages in military preparations to use a chemical weapon;
(f)
knowingly assists, encourages or induces, in any way, another person to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under the Convention; or
(g)
uses a riot control agent as a method of warfare,
shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be punished with —
(h)
imprisonment for a term which may extend to life imprisonment; and
(i)
a fine not exceeding $1 million.
(2) Nothing in subsection (1) applies in respect of any act done by an authorised officer, a national inspector or an international inspector under the authority of this Act or any other written law.
(3) In proceedings for an offence under subsection (1)(a), (c), (d), (e) or (g) relating to an object, it is a defence for the accused to prove that —(a)
the accused neither knew nor suspected nor had reason to suspect that the object was a chemical weapon or riot control agent, as the case may be; or
(b)
as soon as reasonably practicable after the accused first knew or suspected it to be a chemical weapon or riot control agent (as the case may be), the accused took all reasonable steps to inform an authorised officer of the accused’s knowledge or suspicion.
(4) Nothing in subsection (3) affects any defence that is open to a person charged with an offence under this section to raise apart from that subsection.
Licence for use, etc., of scheduled chemical or discrete organic chemical
Open ↗9.—(1) A person must not use, develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer a Schedule 1 chemical for a permitted purpose except under and in accordance with the conditions of a licence granted by the Director‑General.[49/2007]
(2) A person must not —(a)
produce, process or consume a Schedule 2 chemical for a permitted purpose; or
(b)
produce a Schedule 3 chemical for a permitted purpose,
except under and in accordance with the conditions of a licence granted by the Director‑General.
[49/2007]
(3) A person must not produce —(a)
more than 200 tonnes in total of any one or more unscheduled discrete organic chemicals per year; or
(b)
more than 30 tonnes of any one unscheduled discrete organic chemical containing phosphorous, sulfur or fluorine per year,
except under and in accordance with the conditions of a licence granted by the Director‑General.
[49/2007]
(4) A person must not import or export a Schedule 2 chemical or Schedule 3 chemical except under and in accordance with the conditions of a licence granted by the Director‑General.[49/2007]
(5) Subsection (1) does not apply to the use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention or transfer for a permitted purpose of a mixture containing not more than the prescribed concentration of a prescribed Schedule 1 chemical.[49/2007]
(6) Subsection (2) does not apply to —(a)
the production, processing or consumption for a permitted purpose of a mixture containing not more than the prescribed concentration of a prescribed Schedule 2 chemical; and
(b)
the production for a permitted purpose of a mixture containing not more than the prescribed concentration of a prescribed Schedule 3 chemical.[49/2007]
(7) In determining the amount of unscheduled discrete organic chemicals or unscheduled discrete organic chemical containing phosphorous, sulfur or fluorine produced by a person in a year for the purposes of subsection (3), the production of a mixture containing not more than the prescribed concentration of a —(a)
prescribed unscheduled discrete organic chemical; or
(b)
prescribed unscheduled discrete organic chemical containing phosphorous, sulfur or fluorine,
is to be disregarded.
[49/2007]
(8) Subsection (4) does not apply to —(a)
the import of a mixture containing not more than the prescribed concentration of a prescribed Schedule 2 chemical or Schedule 3 chemical; or
(b)
the export to a country that is a party to the Convention of a mixture containing not more than the prescribed concentration of a prescribed Schedule 2 chemical or Schedule 3 chemical.[49/2007]
(9) The Minister may by regulations prescribe the concentration of a chemical in a mixture for the purposes of subsection (5), (6), (7) or (8).[49/2007]
(10) The regulations under subsection (9) may —(a)
prescribe a concentration for all Schedule 1 chemicals, Schedule 2 chemicals, Schedule 3 chemicals, unscheduled discrete organic chemicals or unscheduled discrete organic chemicals containing phosphorous, sulfur or fluorine (as the case may be) or for a specified chemical or description of chemicals;
(b)
prescribe different concentrations for different chemicals; and
(c)
prescribe the method for working out the concentration of a chemical in a mixture.[49/2007]
(11) An application for a licence to do any of the acts referred to in subsections (1) to (4) must be made to the Director‑General in such manner or form as the Director‑General may determine and must be accompanied by the prescribed fee.[49/2007]
(12) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or to both.
(13) Any person who contravenes subsection (2), (3) or (4) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.
(14) The Minister may make regulations —(a)
to prescribe the manner of application for a licence;
(b)
to prescribe the form and duration of a licence;
(c)
to prescribe the terms and conditions upon which and the circumstances in which a licence may be held or granted, suspended, cancelled, extended, renewed or replaced by the Director‑General;
(d)
to provide for appeals to the Minister by a person against a refusal of the Director‑General to grant, extend or renew a licence, or a decision of the Director‑General to cancel or suspend a licence; and
(e)
to prescribe fees payable for an application for a licence and an application for the extension or renewal of a licence.[49/2007]
(15) In subsection (3), “unscheduled discrete organic chemical” means a discrete organic chemical not listed in the Schedule.
Forfeiture
Open ↗10.—(1) A court may order that anything shown to the court’s satisfaction to be the subject matter of an offence under this Part or to have been used in the commission of the offence must be forfeited to the Government, and either destroyed or otherwise dealt with in any manner that the court may order.
(2) In particular, the court may order the thing to be dealt with as the Director‑General may see fit; and in such a case the Director‑General may direct that it be destroyed or otherwise dealt with.[49/2007]
(3) Where —(a)
the court proposes to order anything to be forfeited under this section; and
(b)
a person claiming to have an interest in it applies to be heard by the court,
the court is not to order it to be forfeited unless that person has been given an opportunity to show cause why the order should not be made.
(4) The court may make an order under this section even though no person has been charged with or convicted of an offence under this Part in relation to the thing to be forfeited.
