Health Act, 1953

Regulations as to filling materials.

58.—(1) The Minister may make regulations—

(a) prescribing a standard of cleanliness for filling material either generally or as respects a particular type of filling material,

(b) prohibiting the sale or keeping for sale, or use or keeping for use for the purpose of making bedding, cushions, articles of upholstery, toys or similar articles, of filling material which does not conform with the prescribed standard,

(c) prohibiting the sale or keeping for sale of any bedding, cushion, article of upholstery, toy or similar article containing filling material which does not conform with the prescribed standard.

(2) Regulations under this section—

(a) may provide for the enforcement and execution of the regulations by officers of the Minister, by health authorities and their officers and, with the consent of the Minister for Local Government, by officers of sanitary authorities,

(b) may provide for the empowering of specified persons (being authorised officers for the purpose of Part IX of the Principal Act) to seize and remove, and to detain and destroy or have otherwise suitably disposed of, filling material which does not conform with the prescribed standard,

(c) may provide for the giving and taking (without payment) of samples and the carrying out of tests, examinations and analyses of such samples,

(d) may prescribe the classes of persons to be responsible for the carrying out of tests, examinations and analyses of samples of filling material and the means by and the manner in which any such test, examination or analysis is to be made,

(e) may prescribe the certificate or other evidence to be given of the result of any such test, examination or analysis and the classes of persons by and to whom any such certificate or evidence is to be given,

(f) may provide that any certificate or other evidence prescribed under paragraph (e) of this subsection and given in respect of the test, examination or analysis of a sample shall as respects that sample be evidence for all purposes of the result of the test, examination or analysis,

(g) may provide for the licensing or registration of premises in which filling material is kept for sale or for use for the purpose of making bedding, cushions, articles of upholstery, toys or similar articles and for the prohibition of the keeping for sale or for the said use of filling material in premises which are not licensed or registered,

(h) may provide for conditions governing the grant, retention or renewal of licences or registrations,

(i) may provide for the imposition of charges in respect of the grant, retention or renewal of licences or registrations,

(j) may provide for the marking or labelling in a specified manner of bedding, cushions, articles of upholstery, toys or similar articles containing filling material,

(k) may provide for the keeping of records by persons engaged in the manufacture, preparation, importation, storage, distribution or sale of filling material or bedding, cushions, articles of upholstery, toys or similar articles containing filling material and for the production of such records for inspection by officers concerned in the enforcement or execution of the regulations.

(3) Where regulations made under subsection (1) of this section provide that any particular certificate or other evidence shall be evidence for all purposes of the result of a test, examination or analysis of a sample, such certificate or other evidence shall, as respects that sample, be accepted by all Courts of Justice as evidence of the result of such test, examination or analysis and shall also be accepted by all Courts of Justice as evidence that such test, examination or analysis was carried out under and in accordance with the regulations.

(4) Where a person is charged with having, in contravention of regulations made under this section, kept for sale any filling material or any bedding, cushion, article of upholstery, toy or similar article and it is shown that the material or article was in the possession of such person, the material or article shall, until the contrary is proved, be deemed to have been kept by him for sale.

(5) Where a person is charged with having, in contravention of regulations made under this section, kept any filling material for use for the purpose of making bedding, cushions, articles of upholstery, toys or similar articles and it is shown that the material was in the possession of such person, the material shall, until the contrary is proved, be deemed to have been kept by him for that use.

(6) If the defendant in any prosecution for an offence under this section proves—

(a) that he purchased—

(i) filling material as of a standard of cleanliness which would not have contravened any regulation under this section, or

(ii) an article as containing only filling material of such a standard and with a written warranty to that effect, and

(b) that he had no reason to believe at the time when he committed the offence with which he is charged that the filling material did not conform with the prescribed standard of cleanliness, and

(c) that at the said time the filling material was in the same state as when he purchased it,

the defendant shall be discharged from the prosecution, but shall be liable to pay the costs incurred by the prosecutor unless he gave due notice to the prosecutor that he proposed to rely on the said defence.

(7) A statement by the manufacturer, importer or seller of any filling material or any bedding, cushion, article of upholstery, toy or similar article containing filling material which is a statement as to the standard of cleanliness of the filling material and which is in an invoice or on a label attached to the filling material or article or on the container in which the filling material is sold shall be deemed for the purposes of paragraph (a) of subsection (6) of this section to be a warranty.

(8) Where it appears to the authority or officer enforcing regulations made under this section that an offence has been committed in respect of which proceedings might be taken under this section against some person but that such person could establish a defence under subsection (6) of this section by proving that the offence complained of was due to an act or default of some other person, such authority or officer may take proceedings against that other person without taking proceedings against the first-mentioned person.

(9) A person who contravenes a regulation under this section or who wilfully obstructs the execution of a regulation under this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

(10) An offence under this section may be prosecuted by the health authority in whose functional area the offence is committed.

(11) In this section, the expression “filling material” includes—

(a) rag flock which is produced wholly or in part by tearing up woven, knitted, felted or spun material or other like articles whether new or old, and

(b) hair, fibre, down, feathers, wood shavings, sawdust, straw, and other similar materials, whether new or old, used in the making of bedding, cushions, articles of upholstery, toys, or similar articles, and

(c) linings, webbings and coverings (other than outer coverings) used in the making of bedding, cushions, articles of upholstery, toys or similar articles.