Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs

“ If the Secretary of State considers that the effects of the risk do not or cannot go beyond the territory of the United Kingdom, he shall notify the European Commission of the measures or action concerned insofar as they involve information likely to be of interest to Member States of the European Union from the product safety standpoint, and in particular if they are in response to a new risk which has not been reported in other notifications. ”

“ Within the limits of his activities, a person who is a producer or a distributor shall co-operate with an enforcement authority (at the enforcement authority’s request) in action taken to avoid the risks posed by a product which he supplies or has supplied. Every enforcement authority shall maintain procedures for such co-operation, including procedures for dialogue with the producers and distributors concerned on issues related to product safety. ”

“ Where an enforcement authority has reasonable grounds for believing that a product is a dangerous product, the authority may serve a notice (“a withdrawal notice”) prohibiting the person on whom it is served from doing any of the following things without the consent of the authority, that is to say—
(a) placing the product on the market, offering to place it on the market, agreeing to place it on the market or exposing it for placing on the market, or (b) supplying the product, offering to supply it, agreeing to supply it or exposing it for supply. ”

“ An enforcement authority shall in general make available to the public such information as is available to it on the following matters relating to the risks to consumer health and safety posed by a product—
(a) the nature of the risk, (b) the product identification, and the measures taken in respect of the risk, without prejudice to the need not to disclose information for effective monitoring and investigation activities. ”

“ The feasibility of obtaining higher levels of safety or the availability of other products presenting a lesser degree of risk shall not constitute grounds for considering a product to be a dangerous product;
“safety notice” means a suspension notice, a requirement to mark, a requirement to warn, a withdrawal notice or a recall notice;
“serious risk” means a serious risk, including one the effects of which are not immediate, requiring rapid intervention;
“supply” in relation to a product includes making it available, in the context of providing a service, for use by consumers ”

“ Regulation 10 imposes a duty on certain enforcement authorities to enforce the Regulations. It requires all enforcement authorities to act in a proportionate manner, to take account of the precautionary principle and to encourage voluntary compliance with the Regulations except in cases of serious risk. ”

“ It shall be a defence for that person to show that the terms on which he supplied the product or agreed or offered to supply the product or, in the case of a product which he exposed or possessed for supply, the terms on which he intended to supply the product, contemplated the acquisition of an interest in the product by the person supplied or to be supplied. ”

“ Nothing in these Regulations shall be taken as requiring a person to produce any records if he would be entitled to refuse to produce those records in any proceedings in any court on the grounds that they are the subject of legal professional privilege or, in Scotland, that they contain a confidential communication made by or to an advocate or solicitor in that capacity, or as authorising a person to take possession of any records which are in the possession of a person who would be so entitled. ”

“ An enforcement authority shall maintain and publish a procedure by which complaints may be submitted by any person on product safety and on surveillance and control activities, which complaints shall be followed up as appropriate. ”

“ Where the authority is satisfied that some other person has a better right to a product or record than the person from whom they were seized, the authority shall, instead of the duty in paragraph (5) , be under a duty to return it to that other person or, as the case may be, to the person appearing to the authority to have the best right to the product or record in question. ”

“ Where the commission by a person of an offence under these Regulations is due to an act or default committed by some other person in the course of a commercial activity of his, the other person shall be guilty of the offence and may be proceeded against and punished by virtue of this paragraph whether or not proceedings are taken against the first-mentioned person. ”

“ A person shall be guilty of an offence if he—
(a) fails, without reasonable cause, to comply with a notice served on him under paragraph (1) ; or (b) in purporting to comply with a requirement which by virtue of paragraph (1) (a) or (b) is contained in such a notice— (i) furnishes information or records which he knows are false in a material particular, or (ii) recklessly furnishes information or records which are false in a material particular. ”

“ These Regulations do not apply to a second-hand product supplied as a product to be repaired or reconditioned prior to being used, provided the supplier clearly informs the person to whom he supplies the product to that effect. ”

“ A document required or authorised by virtue of these Regulations to be served on a person may also be served by transmitting the request by any means of electronic communication to an electronic address (which includes a fax number and an e-mail address) being an address which the person has held out as an address at which he or it can be contacted for the purposes of receiving such documents. ”

“ In the application of this section to Northern Ireland, the reference in paragraph (3) to a justice of the peace shall include a reference to a lay magistrate and the references to an information on oath shall be construed as a reference to a complaint on oath.
Obstruction of officers
24.— (1) A person who—
(a) intentionally obstructs an officer of an enforcement authority who is acting in pursuance of any provision of regulations 22 or 23; or (b) intentionally fails to comply with a requirement made of him by an officer of an enforcement authority under any provision of those regulations ”

“ No. 793/93 of 23 March 1993 on the evaluation and control of the risks of existing substances (b) [14] , in the case of an existing substance, or in article 3 (2) of Council Directive 67/548/EEC on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances (c) [15] in the case of a new substance. ”