(1) An authorised officer may issue a penalty notice to a person if it appears
to the officer that the person has committed a penalty notice offence.
(2) A
penalty notice offence is an offence against this Act or the 1987 Act (or the
regulations under those Acts) that is prescribed by the regulations as a
penalty notice offence.
(3) The Fines Act 1996 applies to a penalty notice
issued under this section.
Note : The Fines Act 1996 provides that, if a
person issued with a penalty notice does not wish to have the matter
determined by a court, the person may pay the amount specified in the notice
and is not liable to any further proceedings for the alleged offence.
(4) The
amount payable under a penalty notice issued under this section is the amount
prescribed for the alleged offence by the regulations (not exceeding the
maximum amount of penalty that could be imposed for the offence by a court).
(5) This section does not limit the operation of any other provision of, or
made under, this or any other Act relating to proceedings that may be taken in
respect of offences.
(6) In this section,
"authorised officer" means a person declared by the regulations to be an
authorised officer for the purposes of this section.