{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/materials-and-articles-in-contact-with-food-regulations-1987/regulation-23",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/materials-and-articles-in-contact-with-food-regulations-1987/regulation-23.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1987/1523",
  "legislation_title": "The Materials and Articles in Contact with Food Regulations 1987",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/materials-and-articles-in-contact-with-food-regulations-1987",
  "path": "regulation/23",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "23",
  "heading": "Defence of due diligence",
  "text": "(1) In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations it shall be a defence for the person charged, or in Scotland the accused, to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of such an offence.\n(2) If in any case the defence provided by paragraph (1) above involves the allegation that the commission of the offence was due to the act or default of another person, the person charged, or in Scotland the accused, shall not, without leave of the court, be entitled to rely on that defence unless, within a period ending seven clear days before the hearing or trial, he has served on the prosecutor a notice in writing giving such information identifying or assisting in the identification of that other person as was then in his possession.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "substituted",
      "affecting": "uksi/1990/2487",
      "affecting_title": "The Food Safety Act 1990 (Consequential Modifications) (No 2) (Great Britain) Order 1990"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1987/1523/regulation/23",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T16:20:57.169482+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}