Enforcement in Great Britain
23.—(1) It shall be the duty of the Executive to make adequate arrangements for the enforcement of these Regulations in Great Britain and accordingly a reference to an “enforcing authority” in the provisions applied for the purposes of such enforcement by paragraph (3) shall be construed as a reference to the Executive.
(2) Subject to paragraph (4), the provisions of the 1974 Act specified in paragraph (3) shall apply for the purposes of the enforcement in Great Britain of these Regulations as if they were health and safety regulations for the purposes of that Act, and any function of the Health and Safety Commission under any other provisions of the 1974 Act which is exercisable in relation to any function of the Executive under or in respect of health and safety regulations (including their enforcement) shall be exercisable as if these Regulations were health and safety regulations for the purposes of that Act.
(3) The provisions of the 1974 Act are—
(a)sections 19 to 22 (enforcement);
(b)sections 23 (provisions supplementary to 21 and 22) and 24 (appeal against improvement or prohibition notice);
(c)sections 25A (power of customs officers to detain articles and substances) and 26 (power to indemnify inspectors);
(d)section 27 (obtaining of information) and section 27A (information communicated by the Commissioners of Customs and Excise);
(e)sections 33 to 42 (provisions as to offences); and
(f)Section 48(1) to (3) (application to the Crown).
(4) A failure to discharge a duty placed on the Executive by these Regulations shall not be an offence, and section 33(1)(c) of the 1974 Act shall have effect accordingly.