The Market Surveillance (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2021

UK Statutory Instrument 2021 No. 858 — creates 10 criminal offences.

10offences created

0recorded in force

0revoked

Made: 15 July 2021
In force from: 16 July 2021
Extent: Not stated
Subject: Food, consumer protection, trading standards, product safety and age-restricted sales
Made under: European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — published with the instrument by the department that made it. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

These Regulations extend to Northern Ireland only and are made under section 8C of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (c. 16) to implement certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 2019/1020 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on market surveillance and compliance of products (“Regulation 2019/1020”). Regulation 2019/1020 comes into force on 16 July 2021. It repeals and replaces the market surveillance chapter (Articles 16-29) of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products (OJ L 218, 13.8.2008, p.30-47) which is included in Annex 2 to the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland to the withdrawal agreement. Regulation 2019/1020 is directly applicable in Northern Ireland by virtue of section 7A of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (c. 16) and Article 13(3) of, and Annex 2 to, the Protocol, although some Articles of Regulation 2019/1020 require implementation in domestic legislation. Article 14(4) of Regulation 2019/1020 sets out a range of investigatory and enforcement powers which are to be made available to the UK authorities who enforce the market surveillance regime for products subject to the harmonised EU requirements that continue to apply in Northern Ireland. These powers should be used to enforce both Regulation 2019/1020 and the existing requirements in product-specific EU legislation listed in Annex 1 to Regulation 2019/1020. Article 41 of Regulation 2019/1020 requires that suitable penalties are in place to enforce contraventions of Regulation 2019/1020 by economic operators. In particular, new penalties are needed to implement the requirements of Article 4, Article 5 and Article 7 of Regulation 2019/1020. These Regulations set out those enforcement powers and offences which are necessary to give effect to Regulation 2019/1020 and provides for an effective and proportionate penalty regime for breaches of the Regulation. An Explanatory Memorandum is published alongside these Regulations on www.legislation.gov.uk . A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.

Offences created by this instrument

It is an offence for a person to place a product on the market in contravention of Article 4(1) of the MSC Regulation paragraph 1(1) of SCHEDULE 6 · Status not determined · Strict liability
It is an offence for an economic operator defined in Article 4(2) of the MSC Regulation to contravene a requirement of… paragraph 1(2) of SCHEDULE 6 · Status not determined · Strict liability
It is an offence for an economic operator defined in Article 4(2) of the MSC Regulation to fail to ensure that the… paragraph 1(3) of SCHEDULE 6 · Status not determined · Strict liability
It is an offence for an authorised representative to contravene a requirement of Article 5(2) of the MSC Regulation to… paragraph 1(4) of SCHEDULE 6 · Status not determined · Strict liability
It is an offence for an economic operator to contravene the requirement of Article 7(1) of the MSC Regulation to… paragraph 1(5) of SCHEDULE 6 · Status not determined · Strict liability
It is an offence for any person to contravene any requirement of a withdrawal or recall notice served on that person… paragraph 1(6) of SCHEDULE 6 · Status not determined · Strict liability
A person commits an offence if the person— a intentionally obstructs an enforcer or an officer of an enforcer who is… paragraph 21(1) of SCHEDULE 1 · Status not determined · Requires proof of a state of mind
A person commits an offence if, in giving information of a kind referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(c), the person— a… paragraph 21(2) of SCHEDULE 1 · Status not determined · Requires proof of a state of mind
A person who is not an officer of an enforcer commits an offence if the person purports to act as such under this… paragraph 22(1) of SCHEDULE 1 · Status not determined · Strict liability
Liability of persons other than the principal offender paragraph 4(2) of SCHEDULE 6 · Status not determined · Strict liability

What Parliament said about it

Contributions, debates and written statements mentioning this instrument by name. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Draft Market Surveillance (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2021 Commons · General Committees · 5 July 2021 · The Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth (Anne-Marie Trevelyan)
I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Market Surveillance (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2021. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Rees. Members will appreciate the importance of protecting consumers through our robust and effective product safety and legal metrology systems, which are among the strongest in the world. The legislation will form part of our UK framework, maintaining consumer confidence that the goods they buy are safe. The regulations implement in Northern Ireland the EU regulation on market surveillance and compliance of products…
Draft Market Surveillance (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2021 Commons · General Committees · 5 July 2021
Market Surveillance (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2021 Lords · Grand Committee · 8 July 2021 · Lord Callanan
That the Grand Committee do consider the Market Surveillance (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2021. Relevant document: 6th Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee
Market Surveillance (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2021 Lords · Grand Committee · 8 July 2021
Market Surveillance (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2021 Lords · Lords Chamber · 14 July 2021

How Parliament handled it

Parliament's Statutory Instruments service has no record of this instrument, although it covers the period. Nothing is inferred from that.

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