Act No. 13, 2003 MEDICINES AND RELATED SUBSTANCES CONTROL ACT, 2003 Penalties 39. (1) A person who is convicted of an offence specified in section 38 is liable to a fine not exceeding N$40 000 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years or to both the fine and imprisonment. (2) The court convicting a person of an offence under this Act may declare a medicine or a scheduled substance, or other thing, to which the offence relates, to be forfeited to the State. (3) A medicine or a scheduled substance, or any other thing, forfeited in terms of subsection (2) must be destroyed or dealt with in the prescribed manner or as the Permanent Secretary may direct. Presumptions and evidence 40. (1) In criminal proceedings relating to this Act ­ (a) any quantity of a medicine or a scheduled substance in or on any premises, place, vehicle, vessel or aircraft at the time a sample of that medicine or that scheduled substance is taken under this Act must, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to possess the same properties as that sample; (b) a certificate stating the result of an examination or analysis carried out in terms of section 36(4) and purporting to be signed by the analyst who carried out the examination or the analysis, must be accepted as prima facie proof of the facts stated in the certificate; (c) a statement or entry contained in a book, record or document kept by the owner of a medicine or a scheduled substance, or by a manager, an agent or an employee of that owner, or found on or in any premises occupied by, or a place or vehicle used in the business of, that owner, is admissible in evidence. (2) A prosecution may not be instituted as a result of any examination or analysis carried out in terms of subsection (4) of section 36, unless a copy of the certificate issued by an analyst in terms of that subsection, has been handed or transmitted by registered post to the person who is to be accused, at least 14 days prior to the institution of the prosecution of that person. (3) The court in which a certificate referred to in subsection (2) is adduced in evidence may ­ (a) cause the analyst, who signed that certificate, to be summoned to give oral evidence in the proceedings in question; or (b) cause written interrogatories to be submitted to the analyst for reply, and those interrogatories and any reply to them, purporting to be a reply from that analyst, are admissible in evidence in those proceedings. Special defences in case of prosecutions 41. It is sufficient defence for a person charged with the sale of a medicine in contravention of section 25, if the person proves that he or she ­ (a) acquired that medicine from a lawful source in Namibia and obtained a written proof of purchase from that lawful source; and

Select target paragraph3

Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents