(a) It shall be unlawful for any person, partnership, association or corporation to manufacture, bottle, sell, offer for sale, or have in possession with intent to sell, or for the purpose of selling, in the Virgin Islands, any artificial or natural mineral, spring, or other bottled water, for drinking purposes, which is impure, or bears evidence of potential pollution, or the use of which will be injurious or detrimental to the public health.
(b) No person, partnership, association, or corporation shall manufacture, bottle, sell, or offer for sale in the Virgin Islands any such water, without first having secured an annual permit therefor from the Department of Health; said permit shall be posted in a permanent and conspicuous place. The Department of Health shall have authority, after hearing, upon notice, to revoke any permit or permits at any time, when, after a thorough investigation and examination of any such water so manufactured, bottled, sold, or offered for sale by any person, partnership, association or corporation, it shall appear that such water is impure, or bears evidence of potential pollution, or the use thereof will be injurious or detrimental to public health. An Appeal from the action of the Department of Health in revoking any such permit or permits may be taken to the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands.
(c) Bottles containing water to be sold for human consumption shall be sealed by the party filling the bottles in such a way that the seal must be broken to open the bottles.
(d) The Department of Health shall have authority to inspect the premises used by any person, partnership, association, or corporation in the manufacturing, bottling, selling or offering for sale any such waters, and to procure, by purchase or otherwise, samples thereof for inspection and examination. The Commissioner of Health is authorized to make and promulgate such rules and regulations as shall be necessary, reasonable and appropriate for the effective administration and enforcement of the provisions of this section.
(e) Any person, partnership, association, or corporation, violating or failing to comply with any of the provisions of this section, or any such rules and regulations, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, forfeit his or its permit, or pay a penalty not to exceed $2,000, or both, at the discretion of the court. If the violation is by a partnership, association, or corporation, the members of such partnership or association, or the officers and directors of such corporation, and agents and employees with guilty knowledge of the fact, shall be deemed guilty of a violation of the provisions of this section to the same extent as though said violation was committed by them personally.