s 7 Licence needed to operate foreign employee dormitory, etc.
7.—(1) Unless exempted under section 32, a person must not operate any boarding premises as a foreign employee dormitory except under the authority of a valid licence for those premises. (2) Unless exempted under section 32, a proprietor of boarding premises must not use (or permit the use of) the premises as a foreign employee dormitory unless those premises are used as such by a licensed operator holding a valid licence relating to those premises. (3) A person who contravenes subsection (1) or (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction —(a) to a fine not exceeding $500,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both; and (b) in the case of a second or subsequent conviction, to a fine not exceeding $1 million or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 4 years or to both. (4) It is a defence in proceedings for an offence under subsection (3) for contravening subsection (2) if the proprietor of boarding premises satisfies the court, on a balance of probabilities, that the proprietor did not know, and could not reasonably have been expected to know, that those premises were being used as a foreign employee dormitory otherwise than by the holder of a valid licence relating to those premises. (5) An offence under subsection (1) or (2) is an arrestable offence. (6) To avoid doubt, nothing in subsection (2) affects the law relating to abetment of offences.