3.—(1) The Directive shall have effect within the United Kingdom for the purpose of laying down the conditions governing the placing of products to which the Directive applies on the market and their free movement within the Community and the basic safety requirements which such products must satisfy in order to ensure the health protection and safety of users.
(2) For the purposes mentioned in paragraph (1) above—
(a)section 13 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987(1) (prohibition notices and notices to warn) shall (to the extent that it does not already do so) apply in relation to products to which the Directive applies as it applies in relation to relevant goods under that section;
(b)these Regulations shall constitute safety provisions for the purposes of section 14 of that Act (suspension notices) and sections 16 and 17 of that Act (forfeiture); and
(c)a weights and measures authority in Great Britain or a district council in Northern Ireland shall have the same duty to enforce these Regulations as it has in relation to Part II of that Act, and Part IV of that Act shall apply accordingly.
(3) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(a) above any question as to whether products to which the Directive applies are unsafe shall be determined in accordance with the Directive.
(4) Paragraph (2)(c) above is without prejudice to the duty of the Health and Safety Executive in relation to section 6 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974(2) or, in Northern Ireland, the duties of the Department of Economic Development and the Department of Agriculture in relation to Article 7 of the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978(3) (general duties of manufacturers as regards articles and substances for use at work); and no action shall be taken by virtue of that paragraph before 1st January 1994 unless it could have been taken otherwise than by virtue of these Regulations.
(5) Nothing in any enactment or rule of law shall prevent the placing on the market of products to which the Directive applies in accordance with the Directive.