UK Offence Report

Regulations to be treated as safety regulations within the meaning of the 1987 Act

regulation 16(2) of The Toys (Safety) Regulations 1995

The provision has been revoked, but a saving provision keeps it prosecutable for conduct before a stated date. A person can still be charged with something it is no longer an offence to do.

What the provision says

2 A manufacturer, authorised representative or first supplier who contravenes regulation 11(3) above shall be guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction with imprisonment for not more than three months or with

a fine not exceeding level five on the standard scale.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a manufacturer
Conduct
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a manufacturer meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach regulation 16(2)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. On these words an offence is committed where a manufacturer contravenes regulation 11(3) above.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Toys (Safety) Regulations 1995, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Revoked, but still prosecutable
Revoked by
The Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011
Revoked on
19 August 2011
Still prosecutable for conduct before
19 August 2011
Made
30 January 1995
In force from
24 February 1995
Extent
Not stated

expressed as the coming into force of the revoking instrument (2011-08-19)

How this was established: revoked, but a saving provision keeps the offence prosecutable for conduct before the stated date.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations consolidate with amendments the Toys (Safety) Regulations 1989 (S.I. 1989/1275) (the “1989 Regulations”). They implement the requirements of Council Directive 88/378/EEC (OJ No. L 187, 16.7.88, p. 1) (the “Toys Directive”) on the approximation of the laws of the member States concerning the safety of toys, as amended by Council Directive 93/68/EEC (OJ No. L 220, 30.8.93, p. 1) (the “CE marking Directive”). The Regulations continue the limited saving of the provisions of the Toys (Safety) Regulations 1974 and the Toys (Safety) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1975 (regulation 1(2)). The 1989 Regulations applied to any toy (with certain exceptions) meaning any product or material designed or clearly intended for use in play by children of less than 14 years of age. They require toys to satisfy the essential safety requirements in Annex II of the Toys Directive and made provision for toys to be deemed to do so if they conformed to relevant national standards or to a model of the toy in respect of which there was in force an EC type-examination certificate. The 1989 Regulations prohibited the supply of toys which failed to satisfy the essential safety requirements. These Regulations re-enact those requirements with certain minor amendments (regulations 5, 6, 7 and 13 and Schedule 2). In addition the 1989 Regulations provided for the appointment of bodies to carry out examinations and tests and to issue EC type-examination certificates. These provisions are re-enacted in these Regulations (regulations 8 and 9). The 1989 Regulations provided for the CE marking of toys and for other information to be put on toys, their packaging or to accompany them and contained provision for the retention of information by the manufacturer, his authorised representative established in the United Kingdom or any other person established in the United Kingdom who was the first supplier of the toy in the Community and to keep this information available for inspection by an enforcement authority. With certain modifications required by reason of the provisions of the CE marking Directive, these Regulations re-enact those provisions (regulations 10, 11 and 12). Provision was made in the 1989 Regulations for enforcement of its provisions and these Regulations make similar provision (regulations 15 and 16). Those provisions of the CE marking Directive which relate to toys are implemented for the first time by these Regulations as follows:— the affixing of the CE marking to toys shall be taken to confirm conformity of the toy to all the requirements of the Regulations (regulations 5 and 10 and Schedule 1) (such presumption may be rebutted) save that until 1st January 1997 the manufacturer or his authorised representative established in the Community may choose to affix the said marking to confirm only that the toy complies with relevant national standards or that it conforms to a model in respect of which there is in force an EC type-examination certificate (regulations 5 and 10(10)); the supply of any toy, unless it has previously been supplied for private use and consumption, is prohibited unless it has affixed to it or its packaging the CE marking together with appropriate other information (regulation 10(1)); the issue of a compliance notice in respect of a toy to which the CE marking has been unduly affixed, save where the toy in question is likely to jeopardise the safety or health of any person (regulation 10(11) and Schedule 5). In addition to the above provisions and to minor consequential amendments, these Regulations separate the obligations, in respect of the essential safety requirements, placed on any person who supplies a toy from those placed on the manufacturer or his authorised representative established in the Community (or, where neither are established in the Community, the importer into the Community) who supplies a toy by making an express provision for the requirement not to supply any toy which would jeopardise the safety or health of users or third parties under certain defined conditions (regulations 10 and 13). A compliance cost assessment in respect of these Regulations is available and a copy can be obtained from the Consumer Affairs Division of the Department of Trade and Industry Room 315, 10—18 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0NN. A copy has also been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”; the provision says the conduct is “punishable”
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source