Criminal liability for making, dealing with or using illicit recordings

(1) A person commits an offence who without sufficient (a) makes for sale or hire; (b) imports into Belize otherwise than for his private or domestic use; (c) possesses in the course of a business with a view to committing any act infringing the rights conferred by this Part; or (d) in the course of a business, (i) sells or lets for hire; (ii) offers or exposes for sale or hire; or (iii) distributes, a recording which is, and which he knows or has reason to believe is, an illicit recording. (2) A person commits an offence who causes a recording of a performance made without sufficient consent to be, (a) shown or played in public; or (b) broadcast or included in a cable programme service, 116 thereby infringing any of the rights conferred by this Part, if he knows or has reason to believe that those rights are thereby infringed. (3) In subsections (1) and (2) of this section, “sufficient consent” means, (a) in the case of a qualifying performance, the consent of the performer; and (b) in the case of a non-qualifying performance subject to an exclusive recording contract, (i) for the purpose of paragraph (a) of subsection (1), the consent of the performer or the person having recording rights; and (ii) for the purposes of subsections (1) (b), (c), (d) and (2) of this section, the of the person having (4) References in this section to the person having recording rights are to the person having those rights at the time the consent is given or, if there is more than one such person, to all of them. (5) No offence is committed under subsection (1) or (2) of this section by the commission of an act which, by virtue of any provisions of this Part, may be done without infringing the rights conferred by this Part. (6) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) (a), (b), or (d) (i) of this section, is liable, (a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding three thousand dollars or to 117 imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both such fine and imprisonment; (b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to both such fine and imprisonment. (7) A person who commits any other offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both such fine and imprisonment.