that he took all reasonable steps and exercised all due
diligence to avoid committing the offence (reg 29). The
defence cannot be relied on in the following situations:
(a) where the defendant has failed to serve a notice at
least seven days before the hearing that his defence
involves an allegation that the commission of the
offence was due to either the act or default of an-
other or reliance on information given by another;
(b) where it was unreasonable for the defendant to have
relied on information supplied by another (the
court will have regard to the steps which were taken
- or might reasonably have been taken – to verify
the information and whether the defendant had any
reason to disbelieve the information);
8 By-pass provision.Regulation 31 provides a by-pass
provision to enable the prosecution of the person, in the
course of a commercial activity of his, whose act or
default causes another to commit an offence.
9 Enforcement, notices and penalties.The regulations
are enforced by a variety of authorities depending on the
type of products and their location. Enforcement
authorities include local trading standards authorit-
ies (in England, Wales and Scotland), Environmental
Health Officers (in Northern Ireland, and for certain
kinds of products in England, Wales and Scotland), the
Vehicle Operator Services Agency (vehicles), and the
Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency
(medicines and medical devices). Enforcement author-
ities may issue a range of notices:
(a) a suspension noticewhich requires a trader to sus-
pend temporarily the supply of a product while tests
are carried out (reg 11);
(b) a requirement to markproducts with suitable warn-
ings where it could pose a risk in certain conditions
(reg 12);
(c) a requirement to warnthose who have already been
supplied with a product, e.g. for those who are
particularly at risk, such as children (reg 13);
(d) a withdrawal noticerequiring a product not to be
placed on the market or supplied if already on the
market (reg 14);
(e) a recall noticerequiring the recall from consumers
of a product that has been supplied to them (reg
15). A recall notice can only be issued as a last resort
where voluntary action has not been sufficient to
remove the risk.
The penalties for offences under the regulations are, in
the case of serious offences, a maximum prison sentence
of 12 months or a £20,000 fine, or, in the case of more
minor offences, three months or a £5,000 fine, if con-
victed in the magistrates’ court.Part II of the Consumer Protection
Act 1987 (CPA 1987)
Until the General Product Safety Regulations were
introduced in 1994, the legal framework for dealing with
the problem of unsafe goods was contained in Part II of
the CPA 1987. At the heart of the legislation was a gen-
eral statutory offence, contained in s 10, of supplying
consumer goods which fail to comply with the general
safety requirement. The General Product Safety Regula-
tions 1994 disapplied the general safety requirement set
out in s 10 and the 2005 Regulations have now repealed
s 10 of the CPA 1987.
The remaining provisions of Part II of the CPA 1987
concerning the power to make safety regulations and
issue various notices continue to apply.Safety regulationsSection 11 empowers the Secretary of State to make
safety regulations for other purposes, such as ensuring
that appropriate information is provided with goods
or that goods which are unsafe in the hands of certain
people are not made available to these persons. Section
11(2) sets out a list of matters which may be dealt with
by such safety regulations. They include:■composition, content, design, construction, finish or
packaging of goods;
■approvals of the goods;
■requirements as to testing or inspection;
■warnings, instructions or other information about
the goods;
■prohibitions on the supply of such goods or com-
ponent parts or raw materials;
■requiring information to be given to officials.Section 12 sets out a number of offences relating to
contravention of the safety regulations including:■contravening a prohibition on the supply of goods in
breach of the regulations;
■failing to comply with tests or procedures required by
the regulations;Part 3Business transactions