• Trading Standards Inspections and Your Business
• Powers Under Which Inspection may be Made
• A Guide to Reasonable Precautions and Due Diligence Defences
• Guidance notes and leaflets
• Other useful contacts

Officers from Coventry Trading Standards enforce a wide range of consumer protection legislation to promote a fair and safe trading environment for consumer and honest trader alike. Enforcement is carried out by routine inspections, sampling of goods/services and by investigating complaints. This section describes what to expect when your business is inspected and what to do if you think the outcome of the inspection is wrong or unfair.

• Enforcement Officers from Trading Standards have the right to enter and inspect premises at all reasonable hours. They do not have to make an appointment and they will usually come without advance notice. They carry out routine inspections and may also visit as a result of complaint.
• Officers will look at the way you operate your business to make sure it complies with the law. They will discuss any problems with you and advise on possible solutions. They also have powers which they can use when they think it necessary to protect the public. These are explained below, and further details are given later in this leaflet.

• A courteous manner,
• To be shown identification on request;
• To be told the purpose of the visit and an explanation of the findings;
• A clear distinction between what the officer is recommending you do because it is good practice and what you must do to comply with the law;
• Where appropriate, be given a written notice stating what law has been contravened and what remedial action should be taken;
• To be given a list of any items seized by the Officer within a reasonable time;
• To be allowed supervised access to property which has been seized to examine it or have it photographed at your expense;
• In appropriate circumstances, to be notified of the results of any tests which have been carried out.

• The list detailed in 'Powers Under Which Inspection may be Made' covers some of the general powers, but they do differ from one statute to another. A brief summary is given at the end of that section which sets out some of the differences.
• They can take samples and photographs and inspect records and documents and may require computer information to be produced.
• They can seize and detain property which may be needed as evidence, to be retained as long as is necessary in the circumstances.
• In serious cases action may include prosecution: if the prosecution is successful, the Court may impose fines and in some cases imprisonment. The Courts can also dispose of goods under a Forfeiture Order.
• They can also serve a Suspension Notice on unsafe consumer goods prohibiting the movement of those goods for six months.

• You should first contact the Coventry Trading Standards Manager, to see if the problem can be resolved through the City's complaint procedures.
• If you think Coventry Trading Standards is applying the law in a different way from other authorities you can seek advice from the Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS) either through your trade association or your local authority.

• Trading Standards can give information and advice on advertising of goods or services, credit, pricing, descriptions, product safety, food (composition and labeling), weights and measures, etc.
• Trade associations and independent consultancy services can also help.
• Closer partnership between local authorities and businesses means better public protection and fair trading.

Statutory Powers contained in:

Agriculture Act 1970 Part IV

Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1968

Animal Health Act 1981

Construction Products Regulations 1991

Consumer Credit Act 1974

Consumer Protection Act 1987

Estate Agents Act 1979

Fair Trading Act 1973

Food & Environmental Protection Act 1985

Food Safety Act 1990

General Product Safety Regulations 2005

Hallmarking Act 1973

Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992

Poisons Act 1972

Prices Acts 1974/1975

Property Misdescriptions Act 1991

Road Traffic Acts 1988 and 1991

Trade Descriptions Act 1968

Trade Marks Act 1994

Timeshare Act 1992

Video Recordings Act 1984

Weights and Measures Act 1985

and any other Regulations or Orders made under these Acts as amended.

NB: This is not an exhaustive list of the powers and legislation enforced by Trading Standards.

This section should be considered as a summary only as it is impracticable to list all the powers in full for each statute. The powers will vary between each statute.

A duly authorised officer may at all reasonable times and on production of his/her credentials if requested, enter any business premises and inspect any goods, and, if so authorised, inspect any weighing or measuring equipment.

An Officer can require the production of documents relating to the business and may make copies.

An Officer may inspect any records, in whatever form they are held. Where records are kept on computer, the Officer should be given access to the computer apparatus including any associated apparatus and may require assistance to operate the computer or apparatus.

If an Officer has reasonable cause to suspect an offence has been committed, (s)he may require the production of books or documents (#records), and may take copies of them.

An Officer may seize and detain weighing or measuring equipment if (s)he has reasonable cause to believe it may be liable to be forfeited.

An Officer may seize and detain documents or goods that (s)he believes may be required as evidence.

If an Officer has reasonable cause to believe an offence has been committed (s)he may seize and detain any goods in order to ascertain whether an offence has been committed.

If an Officer believes they may be required as evidence (s)he may seize and detain any goods or documents, (*goods or records) (**goods books or documents).

If necessary, in order to seize goods (*goods or records) (**goods. books or documents), (s)he may require a person having authority to do so, to break open any container, or if refused, (s)he may break open the container him/herself.

If an Officer has reason to believe they may be required as evidence, (s)he may seize and detain any records, and where records are held on computer, may require them to be produced in a form that can be taken away.

This information is produced for Coventry businesses and is intended for guidance only. It is not a legal document and does not attempt to cover all situations. Anyone who wants to know exactly how a particular Act affect them, should refer to the legislation itself or take suitable legal advice.

Dec 2005

It is a general principle in criminal law that the prosecution has to prove that the person accused of a criminal offence is guilty beyond reasonable doubt and usually it has to be proved that the accused had the intention of breaking the law. However there are exceptions to this general principle. A number of pieces of legislation contain 'Strict Liability Offences'. These impose an absolute prohibition against doing something where 'consumer protection' has been deemed to be paramount. For such offences it does not matter that there is no intention to break the law, it is sufficient to show that the law has been broken for an offence to be committed.

Clearly strict liability offences can cause injustice if a person is held to be guilty of an offence because of an accident or some other cause beyond his control. Therefore in order to introduce a balance, a due diligence defence has normally been added to Consumer Protection legislation which creates these strict liability offences.

Examples of Consumer Protection legislation which impose strict liability offences and which have similar Statutory defences are shown below:

At the heart of these Defence Sections is the need for a person or Company to show that

they : -

NB Both parts of the defence must be proved to be successful.

None of the laws which provide due diligence defences define what would satisfy the defence. Although case law has outlined some important principles, ultimately it is for a Court of Law who will decide the facts in each case. However, Trading Standards would offer the following general points of guidance.

1. Doing nothing can never enable a person to establish a defence. Some positive steps will always be necessary.
2. Taking reasonable precautions involves setting up an appropriate system of control that has regard to the risks involved. The due diligence side is to ensure that this system has been implemented and operates properly.
3. A defence will fail when a reasonable precaution could have been taken, but was not. What is reasonable depends on particular circumstances, for example one factor may be the size of the business.
4. There should be an awareness of any legal requirements which may affect the business.
5. Written records should be kept of procedures followed and carried out.
6. Steps should be taken to ensure goods ordered by the business comply with the order specification.
7. Steps should be taken to ensure that any goods received comply with relevant legislation, depending upon circumstances some or all of these options may be appropriate: - in house testing, independent testing, specific assurances from your supplier.
8. If batch samplings and/or testing is involved, an appropriate number of items examined or tested should be decided by reference to:

• Size of batch
• Complexity of product
• Impact or potential seriousness of non-compliance
• Cost of each item
• Frequency of testing
• Volume of product supplied
• Size of business

9. Appropriate training and supervision of staff.
10. The operations of the system must be kept under review and amended as necessary. The system should include provision for remedial action where things go wrong.
11. If you have an existing management or quality assurance system, it may need to be modified to include due diligence requirements. However, it is important to note having a quality assurance system will not necessarily ensure a statutory defence can be satisfied.

This information outlines in general terms the Due Diligence defence. It is not a legal document and it does not attempt to cover all situations. Anyone who wants to know exactly how a particular Act affects them should refer to the legislation itself or take suitable legal advice.

Jan 2006

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