Prohibition of import or transhipment of fresh fruits or vegetables without permit
8.—(1)  A licensee must not import any fresh fruit or vegetable for sale, supply or distribution unless —
(a)the licensee has obtained a permit from the Director‑General in respect of each consignment of fresh fruits or vegetables to be imported by the licensee and the import of such consignment is carried out in accordance with the conditions of the permit;
(b)the whole consignment conforms to the description contained in the permit;
(c)the whole consignment does not contain any prohibited pesticide residue, or levels of pesticide residue or toxic chemical residue exceeding the prescribed levels;
(d)the whole consignment complies with any sanitary standards that the Minister may prescribe;
(e)the licensee provides the Director-General with satisfactory evidence that the whole consignment complies with paragraphs (c) and (d); and
(f)the container of the fruits or vegetables constituting the consignment bears the producer’s name and address and such other particulars as may be prescribed.
(2)  A licensee must not tranship any fresh fruit or vegetable unless the licensee has obtained a permit from the Director‑General in respect of each consignment of fresh fruits or vegetables to be transhipped by the licensee and the transhipment is carried out by the licensee in accordance with the conditions of the permit.
(3)  Any licensee who contravenes or fails to comply with subsection (1) or (2) 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 3 years or to both.
(4)  Subject to subsection (5), in any proceedings for an offence under subsection (3), it is a defence for the person charged (A) to prove —
(a)that the commission of the offence was due to the act or default of another person or some other cause beyond A’s control; and
(b)that A took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of such an offence by A or by any person under A’s control.
(5)  If in any case the defence provided by subsection (4) involves the allegation that the commission of the offence was due to the act or default of another person, the person charged is not, without leave of the court, entitled to rely on that defence unless, within a period ending 7 clear days before the hearing, the person has served on the prosecutor a written notice giving such information as was then in the person’s possession identifying or assisting in the identification of that other person.
(6)  In this section —
“container” means the basket, carton, bag, box, packet or other receptacle which contains the fresh fruits or vegetables and, where any such receptacle is contained in another such receptacle, includes the latter receptacle;
“licensee” means a person who has obtained a licence as required under section 7 for the import or transhipment (as the case may be) of any fresh fruit or vegetable.