UK Offence Report

4 A person who contravenes a safety notice shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction on…

regulation 20(4) of The General Product Safety Regulations 2005

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

4 A person who contravenes

a safety notice shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding

12 months or to

a fine not exceeding £20,000 or to both, or on summary conviction to imprisonment for

a term not exceeding three months or to

a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 person
Conduct
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Legal burden on the defendant

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 person 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 gives a defence the defendant must prove, on the balance of probabilities. A legal burden of that kind can be read down to a merely evidential one under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where placing it on the defendant would be disproportionate (R v Lambert [2001] UKHL 37; Sheldrake v DPP [2004] UKHL 43).

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

The defence, as drafted

tions it shall be a defence for that person to show that he took all reasonable steps and exercised all due diligence to avoid committing the offence. 2 Where in any proceedings against any person for such an offence the defence provided by paragraph (1) involves an allegation that the commission of the offence was due— a to the act or default of another, or b to reliance on

What would breach regulation 20(4)?

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 person contravenes a safety notice.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005, 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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
3 months

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2005-10-01); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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

The Ministry of Justice records offences under this instrument against offence code 8506 — 08506 - Triable either way offences under General Product Safety Regulations 2005. That code may cover several provisions of the instrument, so a count against it is not a count of prosecutions under this provision alone.

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have their own code in the MoJ’s Outcomes by Offence data tool. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Revoked
Revoked by
The Consumer Rights Act 2015 (Commencement No. 3, Transitional Provisions, Savings and Consequential Amendments) Order 2015
Revoked on
1 October 2015
Made
30 June 2005
In force from
1 October 2005
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

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

These Regulations implement directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 December 2001 on general product safety (OJ No. L11, 15/1/2002 p.4). This Directive superseded Council Directive 92/59/EEC (OJ No. L228 11/8/1992 p.24) on general product safety which was implemented by the General Product Safety Regulations 1994 (SI 1994/2328). The 1994 Regulations are consequently revoked by regulation 1(2) of these Regulations. These Regulations impose requirements concerning the safety of products intended for consumers or which are likely to be used by consumers. The products covered are defined in regulation 2 and extend to second-hand products, ones intended for professional use which it can be foreseen may be used by consumers, and products supplied in the course of a service. Regulation 2 defines other key terms such as enforcement authority, distributor and producer. Regulation 3 provides that the Regulations apply except where there are no other specific provisions in rules of Community law other than the Directive. Where there are those other rules apply. Regulation 4 excludes second-hand products which are expressly supplied for repair or reconditioning. Regulation 5 requires producers only to place safe products on the market. Regulation 6 provides that a product which complies with certain safety standards is presumed to be safe unless there is evidence to the contrary. Regulation 7 requires producers to inform customers about the risks of products and to monitor the risks their products pose. Regulation 8 requires distributors to act with due care so as not to supply unsafe products and to co-operate in monitoring the safety of products. Regulation 9 requires producers and distributors to notify an enforcement authority if a product placed on the market poses risks that are incompatible with the general product safety requirement. This does not apply to antiques or products supplied for repair or reconditioning. 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. Regulations 11-15 contain the enforcement powers which enforcement authorities may exercise in appropriated cases by issuing safety notices of various kinds. These are suspension notices to suspend the supply of a product (regulation 11); requirements to mark which require warnings to be marked on a product (regulation 12); requirements to warn those who have already been supplied with a product (regulation 14); withdrawal notices requiring products not to be placed on the market or supplied (regulation 13); and recall notices requiring the recall from consumers of products that have been supplied to them (regulation 14). Regulations 16 to 20 contain ancillary provisions providing for appeals against safety notices, compensation, forfeiture of dangerous products and offences. Regulations 21-23 confer on enforcement authorities powers of test purchase, entry and search and seizure and detention of products. Regulations 24 to 27 contain ancillary provisions in respect of the offence of obstructing an officer of an enforcement authority, appeals against seizure and detention of products, compensation and the recovery of an enforcement authority’s costs. Regulation 28 confers on the Secretary of State powers to require information and samples of products in order to decide whether to serve, vary or revoke a safety notice. Regulations 29-30 provide defences of due diligence and a defence in respect of the supply of antiques. Regulations 32-34 sets out the system whereby enforcement authorities are to notify the Secretary of State of notifications they have received under regulation 9 and of enforcement action they have taken. The Secretary of State in turn is required to notify the European Commission and competent authorities in those other Member States where the product has been placed on the market. Regulation 35 provides for the implementation of Commission decisions in respect of products that pose serious risks. Regulations 36-38 provide for market surveillance by enforcement authorities, handling of safety complaints and co-operation between authorities. Regulation 39 requires enforcement authorities to publish safety information with some restrictions in respect of professionally secret information. It also makes information obtained under the regulations subject to Part 9 of the Enterprise Act (restrictions on disclosure of information) and enables information subject to Part 9 to be disclosed for the purposes of enforcing these Regulations. Regulations 40 provides for service of documents. Regulation 41 extends the time for bringing summary proceedings for an offence under the Regulations. Regulation 42 provides that the Regulations do not confer a right of civil action for their breach. Regulation 43 provides for legal professional privilege and privilege against self incrimination or incrimination of a spouse or civil partner. Regulation 44 provides that a notification under regulation 9(1) is in general inadmissible in criminal proceedings under the Regulations. Regulation 44 makes transitional provision where a suspension notice has been issued under regulation 11 of the General Product Safety Regulations 1994. Regulation 46 amends the Consumer Protection Act 1987 by repealing section 10 (the general safety requirement) and regulation 47 makes consequential amendment to other legislation. A full regulatory impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on costs to business is available from the Consumer and Competition Policy Directorate of the Department of Trade and Industry, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET or at www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/safety.htm.. Copies of a transposition note relating to these Regulations have been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament. Copies are also available to the public from the Consumer and Competition Policy Directorate of the Department of Trade and Industry, 1 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0ET.

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.

Other offences in the same instrument

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”
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