s 59 Provisions as to prosecutions, and as to offences by corporations.
(1) Proceedings for an offence against this Act or regulations made thereunder shall not, in England, be instituted except by or with the consent of the Minister or by the Director of Public Prosecutions. (2) Where an offence against this Act or regulations made thereunder has been committed by a body corporate, every person who at the time of the commission of the offence was a director or officer of the body corporate, or was purporting to act in any such capacity, shall be deemed to be guilty of that offence, unless he proves that the contravention was committed without his consent or connivance and that he exercised all such diligence to prevent the commission of the offence as he ought to have exercised having regard to the nature of his functions in that capacity and to all the circumstances.