Consumer Safety (Amendment) Act 1986
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1986 c. 29 |
| Year | 1986 |
Consumer Safety(Amendment) Act 1986
1986 CHAPTER 29
An Act to make further provision with respect to the safety of consumers and others.
[8th July 1986]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Power of Commissioners to disclose information.
(1) The Commissioners of Customs and Excise may, if they think it appropriate to do so for the purpose of facilitating the exercise by any person to whom subsection (2) below applies of any functions conferred on that person by or under the safety legislation, authorise the disclosure to that person, in such manner and through such persons acting on behalf of that person as they may direct, of any information obtained for the purposes of the exercise by the Commissioners of their functions in relation to imported goods.
(2) This subsection applies to an enforcement authority and to any officer of an enforcement authority.
(3) Information may be disclosed to a person under subsection (1) above whether or not the disclosure of the information has been requested by or on behalf of that person.
2 Power of Commissioners to detain goods.
(1) A customs officer may, for the purpose of facilitating the exercise by any enforcement authority or officer of such an authority of any functions conferred on the authority or officer by or under the safety legislation, seize any imported goods and detain them for not more than forty-eight hours.
(2) Anything seized and detained under this section shall be dealt with during the period of its detention in such manner as the Commissioners of Customs and Excise may direct.
(3) In this section ‘customs officer’ means any officer within the meaning of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 .
3 Suspension notices.
(1) Where an enforcement authority has reasonable cause to suspect that any relevant provisions have been contravened in relation to any goods, the authority may serve a notice (‘a suspension notice’) prohibiting the person on whom it is served, for such period ending not more than six months after the date of the notice as is specified therein, from doing any of the following things without the consent of the authority, that is to say, supplying the goods, offering to supply them, agreeing to supply them or exposing them for supply.
(2) A suspension notice served by an enforcement authority in respect of any goods shall—
(a ) describe the goods in a manner sufficient to identify them;
(b ) set out the grounds on which the authority suspects that relevant provisions have been contravened in relation to the goods; and
(c ) state that, and the manner in which, the person on whom the notice is served may appeal against the notice under section 4 or 5 below.
(3) Where a suspension notice has been served on any person in respect of any goods, no further such notice shall be served on that person in respect of the same goods unless—
(a ) proceedings against that person for an offence in respect of a contravention in relation to the goods of any relevant provisions (not being an offence under this section); or
(b ) proceedings for the forfeiture of the goods under section 6 or 7 below,
are pending at the end of the period specified in the first-mentioned notice.
(4) A consent given by an enforcement authority for the purposes of subsection (1) above may impose such conditions on the doing of anything for which the consent is required as the authority thinks appropriate.
(5) Any person who contravenes a suspension notice shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to both.
(6) Paragraphs 14(2) and 15 of Schedule 2 to the 1978 Act (liability of enforcement authority to pay compensation) shall apply where an enforcement authority exercises its power to serve a suspension notice in respect of any goods as they apply where an officer of such an authority exercises his power to seize and detain any goods.
(7) References in this section, in relation to any goods, to supplying include references to supplying the goods—
(a ) to a person who carries on a business of buying such goods as those in question and repairing or reconditioning them; or
(b ) by a sale of articles as scrap (that is to say for the value of the materials included in the articles and not of the articles themselves).
4 Appeals against suspension notices and seizures.
(1) Any person having an interest in any goods—
(a ) in respect of which a suspension notice under section 3 above is for the time being in force; or
(b ) which are for the time being detained under any provision of Schedule 2 to the 1978 Act,
may apply under this section for an order setting aside the suspension notice or, as the case may be, requiring the goods to be released to him or to any other person.
(2) An application under this section may be made—
(a ) to any court in which proceedings have been commenced—
(i) for an offence in respect of a contravention in relation to the goods of any relevant provisions; or
(ii) for the forfeiture of the goods under section 6 below;
(b ) where no such proceedings have been commenced—
(i) in England and Wales, by way of complaint to a magistrates' court;
(ii) in Northern Ireland, by way of complaint to a court of summary jurisdiction.
(3) On an application under this section the court shall make an order setting aside a suspension notice in respect of any goods or requiring any goods to be released to the applicant or to any other person only if the court is satisfied—
(a ) that there has been no contravention in relation to the goods of any relevant provisions; or
(b ) in the case of goods that have been seized and detained, that more than six months have expired since the seizure without proceedings being commenced—
(i) for an offence in respect of a contravention in relation to the goods of any relevant provisions; or
(ii) for the forfeiture of the goods under section 6 below.
5 Setting aside suspension notices etc. in Scotland.
(1) Any person having an interest in any goods—
(a ) in respect of which a suspension notice under section 3 above is for the time being in force; or
(b ) which are for the time being detained under any provision of Schedule 2 to the 1978 Act,
may apply to the sheriff under this section for an order setting aside the suspension notice or, as the case may be, requiring the goods to be released to him or to any other person.
(2) The sheriff may make an order under this section only if he is satisfied—
(a ) in any case, that at the date of making the order, no proceedings have been commenced—
(i) for an offence of contravening a relevant provision in relation to the goods; or
or if they have been commenced, that they have been concluded; and
(b ) where subsection (1)(b ) above applies, that more than six months have elapsed since the goods were seized, without any such proceedings having been commenced.
6 Forfeiture: England and Wales and Northern Ireland.
(1) An enforcement authority may apply under this section for an order for the forfeiture of any goods on the grounds that there has been a contravention in relation to the goods of any relevant provisions.
(2) An application under this section may be made—
(a ) where proceedings have been commenced in any court for an offence in respect of a contravention in relation to some or all of the goods of any relevant provisions, to that court;
(b ) where an application with respect to some or all of the goods has been made to a court under section 4 above, to that court; and
(c ) where no application for the forfeiture of the goods has been made to a court under paragraph (a ) or (b ) above—
(i) in England and Wales, by way of complaint to a magistrates' court;
(ii) in Northern Ireland, by way of complaint to a court of summary jurisdiction.
(3) On an application under this section the court shall make an order for the forfeiture of any goods only if it is satisfied that there has been a contravention in relation to the goods of any relevant provisions.
(4) For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that a court may infer for the purposes of this section that there has been a contravention in relation to any goods of any relevant provisions if it is satisfied that those provisions have been contravened in relation to any goods which are representative of those goods (whether by reason of being of the same design or part of the same consignment or batch or otherwise).
(5) Subject to subsection (6) and section 9(3) below, where a court makes an order under this section, the goods to which it relates shall be destroyed in accordance with such directions as the court may give.
(6) On making an order under this section a court may, if it thinks it appropriate to do so, direct that the goods to which the order relates shall (instead of being destroyed) be released to such person as the court may specify on condition that that person—
(a ) does not supply those goods to any person otherwise than as mentioned in section 3(7)(a ) or (b ) above; and
(b ) complies with any order to pay costs or expenses (including any order under section 13 below) which has been made against that person in the proceedings for the order.
7 Forfeiture: Scotland.
(1) A sheriff may make an order for forfeiture of any goods in relation to which...
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