UK Offence Report

Sale or hire of sunbeds to persons aged under 18

regulation 5(3) of The Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010 (Wales) 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

3 A seller or

a hirer who fails to comply with paragraph (1) or paragraph (2) commits an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 seller
Conduct
failing to do something the instrument requires
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 seller 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 5(3)?

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 seller fails to comply with paragraph (1) or paragraph (2).
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010 (Wales) Regulations 2011, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (2011-10-31); 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

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
14 April 2011
In force from
31 October 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 make provisions relating to sunbed use. They impose: a duty on a person who carries on a sunbed business on domestic premises to prevent sunbed use on those premises by persons aged under 18; a requirement for a person who carries on a sunbed business to supervise the use of sunbeds on the business’s premises; a prohibition on the sale or hire of sunbeds to persons aged under 18; requirements for the provision of information to sunbed users; and requirements relating to the use of protective eyewear by sunbed users. The Regulations are made pursuant to powers contained in the Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010 (“the Act”), they apply in relation to Wales and come into force on 31 October 2011. The terms “sunbed”, “sunbed business”, “domestic premises” and “premises” are defined in the Act. Regulation 3 provides that a person who carries on a sunbed business must ensure that sunbeds are not used by, or offered for use to, a person aged under 18, where those sunbeds are those to which the business relates and are located on domestic premises. The regulation therefore extends to sunbed businesses operating from domestic premises the duty set out in section 2 of the Act to prevent sunbed use by children. A person who carries on a sunbed business and who fails to comply with the requirements of the regulation will commit a criminal offence. Regulation 4 provides that a person who carries on a sunbed business must secure that the use of the business’s sunbeds on the business’s premises, defined in these Regulations as “sunbed premises”, are supervised. Supervision means that a supervisor (which can be the person who carries on the business or an employee or agent of that person) must be present on the premises when a sunbed is in use, and that the supervisor has fulfilled various requirements in relation to a person who may use or seek to use one of the business’s sunbeds, for example assisting the person to assess their skin type and providing guidance on the use of the sunbed. A person who carries on a sunbed business must ensure that a supervisor is competent to fulfil the various supervisory requirements set out in regulation 4(2)(b). A person who carries on a sunbed business and who fails to comply with the requirements of the regulation will commit a criminal offence. Regulation 5 prohibits the sale or hire of a sunbed to a person who is under 18. A seller or hirer who fails to comply with the requirements of the regulation commits an offence. Regulation 6 provides for circumstances where premises at which an order for the sale or hire of a sunbed is placed are not the same as the premises from which the equipment is despatched. Generally, the sale or hire is to be treated as taking place on the premises at which the order was taken. Regulation 7 provides that a person who carries on a sunbed business must provide to a person each time that person seeks to use or uses a sunbed on the business’s premises health information about sunbed use, as prescribed in Schedule 1 to the Regulations. In addition, a notice must be displayed on the business’s premises containing health information, as prescribed in Schedule 2 to the Regulations. A person who carries on a sunbed business must not provide or display any material containing statements relating to the health effects of sunbeds, other than the prescribed health information. A person who carries on a sunbed business and who fails to comply with the requirements of the regulation will commit a criminal offence. Regulation 8 provides that a person who carries on a sunbed business must make appropriate protective eyewear available to a person seeking to use a sunbed on the business’s premises, or ensure that such a person has with them appropriate protective eyewear; and must secure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that a person who uses a sunbed on the business’s premises wears such protective eyewear. If the protective eyewear provided by the person who carries on a sunbed business is reusable, it must be appropriately sanitised before being made available for reuse. A person who carries on a sunbed business and who fails to comply with the requirements of the regulation will commit a criminal offence. Regulation 9 makes it a duty of local authorities to enforce the Regulations in their respective areas and to appoint authorised officers for that purpose. Authorised officers have the enforcement powers available to them as set out in the Schedule to the Act in relation to matters arising under the Regulations. The powers are modified to make provision for enforcement in relation to sunbed businesses located on domestic premises and an authorised officer will require the consent of the occupier or a warrant issued by a justice of the peace before entering such premises. A regulatory impact assessment has been prepared as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from the Welsh Assembly Government, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3NQ. A draft of the Regulations was notified to the European Commission in accordance with Article 8 of Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations (OJ No. L204, 21.7.1998, p.37) last amended by Council Directive 2006/96/EC (OJ No. L363, 20.12.2006, p.81).

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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 “commits 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