- (b) in connection with any compliance by the authority with directions given by the court for the purposes of any order for the forfeiture of the product.
Power of Secretary of State to obtain information
28.—(1) If the Secretary of State considers that, for the purposes of deciding whether to serve a safety notice, or to vary or revoke a safety notice which he has already served, he requires information or a sample of a product he may serve on a person a notice requiring him:
- (a) to furnish to the Secretary of State, within a period specified in the notice, such information as is specified;
- (b) to produce such records as are specified in the notice at a time and place so specified (and to produce any such records which are stored in any electronic form in a form in which they are visible and legible) and to permit a person appointed by the Secretary of State for that purpose to take copies of the records at that time and place;
- (c) to produce such samples of a product as are specified in the notice at a time and place so specified.
(2) A person shall be guilty of an offence if he—
- (a) fails, without reasonable cause, to comply with a notice served on him under paragraph (1); or
- (b) in purporting to comply with a requirement which by virtue of paragraph (1)(a) or (b) is contained in such a notice—
- (i) furnishes information or records which he knows are false in a material particular, or
- (ii) recklessly furnishes information or records which are false in a material particular.
(3) A person guilty of an offence under paragraph (2) shall—
- (a) in the case of an offence under sub-paragraph (a) of that paragraph, be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale; and
- (b) in the case of an offence under sub-paragraph (b) of that paragraph, be liable—
- (i) on conviction on indictment, to a fine;
- (ii) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum.
Defence of due diligence
29.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this regulation, in proceedings against a person for an offence under these Regulations 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 information given by another,
that person shall not, without the leave of the court, be entitled to rely on the defence unless, not less than seven clear days before, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the hearing of the proceedings or, in Scotland, the trial diet, he has served a notice under paragraph (3) on the person bringing the proceedings.
(3) A notice under this paragraph shall give such information identifying or assisting in the identification of the person who—
- (a) committed the act or default, or
- (b) gave the information,
as is in the possession of the person serving the notice at the time he serves it.
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