{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/materials-and-articles-in-contact-with-food-regulations-1987/regulation-24",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/materials-and-articles-in-contact-with-food-regulations-1987/regulation-24.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/24",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "24",
  "heading": "Warranty pleaded as defence",
  "text": "(1) In any proceedings for an offence under these Regulations, being an offence consisting of selling, advertising for sale, importing or using any material or article, it shall be a defence for the person charged, or in Scotland the accused, to prove—\n(a) that he purchased it as being a material or article which could lawfully be sold, advertised for sale, imported or used and with a written warranty to that effect, and\n(b) that he had no reason to believe at the time of the commission of the alleged offence that it was otherwise, and\n(c) that it was then in the same state as when he purchased it.\n(2) A warranty shall only be a defence in proceedings under these Regulations if—\n(a) the person charged, or in Scotland the accused,—\n(i) has, not later than three clear days before the date of the hearing or trial, sent to the prosecutor a copy of the warranty with a notice stating that he intends to rely on it and specifying the name and address of the person from whom he received it, and\n(ii) has also sent a like notice of his intention to that person, and\n(b) in the case of a warranty given by a person resident outside the United Kingdom, the person charged, or in Scotland the accused, proves that he had taken reasonable steps to ascertain, and did in fact believe in, the accuracy of the statement contained therein.\n(3) Where the person charged, or in Scotland the accused, is an employee of the person who purchased the material or article under a warranty, he shall be entitled to rely on the provisions of this regulation in the same way as his employer would have been entitled to do if he had been the person charged.\n(4) The person by whom the warranty is alleged to have been given shall be entitled to appear at the hearing or trial and to give evidence and the court may, if it thinks fit, adjourn the hearing or trial to enable him to do so.\n(5) For the purposes of this regulation, a description entered in an invoice shall be deemed to be a written warranty that the article or substance to which the entry refers can be sold or otherwise dealt with under that description by any person without contravening any of the provisions of these Regulations.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "ceases to have effect",
      "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/24",
    "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."
}