White Phosphorus Matches Prohibition Act, 1908

WHITE PHOSPHORUS MATCHES PROHIBITION ACT 1908

CHAPTER XLII.

An Act to prohibit the Manufacture, Sale, and Importation of Matches made with White Phosphorus, and for other purposes in connection therewith. [21st December 1908.]

Be it enacted by the King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Prohibition of use of white phosphorus in manufacture of matches.

1 Edw. 7. c. 22.

1.(1) It shall not be lawful for any person to use white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches, and any factory in which white phosphorus is so used shall be deemed to be a factory not kept in conformity with the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, and that Act shall apply accordingly.

(2) The occupier of any factory in which the manufacture of matches is carried on shall allow an inspector under the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, at any time to take for analysis sufficient samples of any material in use or mixed for use, and, if he refuses to do so, shall be guilty of obstructing the inspector in the execution of his duties under that Act:

Provided that the occupier may, at the time when the sample is taken, and on providing the necessary appliances, require the inspector to divide the sample so taken into two parts and to mark, seal, and deliver to him one part.

Prohibition of sale.

2. It shall not be lawful for any person to sell or to offer or expose for sale or to have in his possession for the purposes of sale any matches made with white phosphorus, and, if any person contravenes the provisions of this section, he may on complaint to a court of summary jurisdiction be ordered to forfeit any such matches in his possession, and any matches so forfeited shall be destroyed or otherwise dealt with as the court may think fit, but this provision shall not come into operation as respects any retail dealer until the first day of January, nineteen hundred and eleven.

Prohibition of importation.

39 & 40 Vict. c. 36.

3. It shall not be lawful to import into the United Kingdom matches made with white phosphorus, and matches so made shall be included amongst the goods enumerated and described in the table of prohibitions and restrictions contained in section forty-two of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876.

Compulsory licence to use patents.

7 Edw. 7. c. 29.

37 & 38 Vict. c. 40.

4.(1) Any person who is manufacturing or proposing to manufacture matches by way of trade may present a petition to the Board of Trade, praying for the grant of a compulsory licence to use any process patented at the passing of this Act for the manufacture of matches without white phosphorus, other than matches intended to strike only on a surface specially prepared for the purpose.

(2) The Board of Trade, after considering any representations that may be made by the patentee as defined by the Patents and Designs Act, 1907, and any person claiming an interest in the patent as exclusive licensee or otherwise, and, after consultation with the Secretary of State, may order the patentee to grant a licence to the petitioner on such terms as the Board may think just. The provisions of the Board of Trade Arbitrations, &c., Act, 1874, shall apply to proceedings under this section as if this Act were a special Act within the meaning of that Act.

(3) An order of the Board directing the grant of a licence under this section shall, without prejudice to any other method of enforcement, operate as if it were embodied in a deed granting a licence and made between the petitioner and the patentee and such other persons claiming an interest in the patent as aforesaid.

Short title, commencement, and construction.

5.(1) This Act may be cited as the White Phosphorus Matches Prohibition Act, 1908, and shall, except as otherwise expressly provided, come into operation on the first day of January nineteen hundred and ten.

(2) For the purposes of this Act the expression “white phosphorus” means the substance usually known as white or yellow phosphorus.