Schedule 15: Liability of parent entities etc Offences Section 203: Application of offences to providers that are not legal persons
This section sets how information offences apply to providers that are not legal persons under the law under which they are formed. Under English and Welsh law, a partnership and an unincorporated association would both be examples of such entities.
	Subsection (2) specifies that proceedings for an offence under this Act alleged to have been committed by a relevant entity must be brought against the entity in its own name. It must not be brought in the name of any of its officers, members or partners. For such proceedings, the rules of court relating to service of documents have the same effect as if the entity were a body corporate (e.g. a company), and that the listed provisions in subsection (3)(b) also apply as they would apply in relation to a body corporate. A fine imposed on a relevant entity on its conviction of an offence under this Act is to be paid out of the entity’s funds.
	Subsection (5) provides that, if the relevant entity commits an offence, and this offence was committed with the consent or connivance of, or can be attributed to the neglect of, an officer, then the officer also commits the offence. Proceedings may thus be brought against the officer (subject to section 199(1)) and they may be punished accordingly. The liability of an officer under this subsection is not prejudiced by subsection (2).