UK Offence Report

Contravention of The Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011

the instrument as a whole of The Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

Contravening this instrument is an offence under section

12 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
breaching the provision
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not in this instrument.

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
Status not determined
Made
24 July 2011
In force from
19 August 2011
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

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 2009/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18th June 2009 on the safety of toys (OJ No L 170, 30.06.2009, p1). The Directive sets harmonised safety requirements for toys and minimum requirements for market surveillance, in order to ensure a high level of safety of toys with a view to ensuring the health and safety of children whilst guaranteeing the functioning of the internal market. The Directive repeals and replaces Council Directive 88/378/EEC of 3rd May 1988 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning the safety of toys (OJ No L 187, 16.7.88, p1) (as amended), which was implemented in the United Kingdom by the Toys (Safety) Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/204) (as amended). These Regulations revoke and replace S.I. 1995/204, subject to the continuing application of S.I. 1995/204 to toys placed on the market before these Regulations come into force. (regulation 2). Regulation 4 sets out the toys to which the Regulations apply. In particular, they apply only to toys placed on the market on or after these Regulations come into force. Regulation 5 defines the essential safety requirements which apply to toys, and is subject to a transitional provision in respect of the requirements concerning the chemical properties of toys placed on the market before 20th July 2013 (regulation 6). Part 2 of the Regulations sets out the prohibitions and obligations on economic operators. These are divided into prohibitions and obligations on manufacturers and their authorised representatives (regulations 10 to 25), on importers (regulations 26 to 32), on distributors (regulations 33 to 37), and on all economic operators (regulations 38 and 39). The various categories of economic operator are defined in regulation 3. In certain circumstances, importers and distributors are required to comply with the duties on manufacturers in place of the duties on importers or distributors (regulations 32 and 37). Parts 1 and 2 are safety regulations and are enforceable under the Consumer Protection Act 1987. Section 12 of the Act contains offences for breaching safety regulations and other enforcement provisions. Part 3 of the Regulations sets out the process for the appointment of conformity assessment bodies as UK notified bodies. Conformity assessment is the process of demonstrating whether specified requirements relating to a toy have been fulfilled. Part 4 sets out the functions of UK notified bodies. Part 5 of the Regulations deals with enforcement of the Regulations, both in cases of formal non-compliance and toys presenting a risk. Regulation 57 addresses the relationship between the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/1803) and Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 on accreditation and market surveillance (OJ L 218, 13.8.2008, p30) so that the powers in the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 are available to supplement the enforcement provisions in these Regulations. Part 6 of the Regulations requires the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of these Regulations and publish a report within five years after they come into force and within every five years after that. Following a review it will fall to the Secretary of State to consider whether the Regulations should remain as they are, or be revoked or be amended. A further instrument would be needed to revoke the Regulations or to amend them. A transposition note and a full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector are available from the BIS website (www.bis.gov.uk). They are also annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk. Copies have 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 0.55.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.55 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