The vast majority of businesses are responsible and provide their customers with goods and services that satisfy legal requirements.
However, prosecutions can result in cases where businesses fall short of the required standards - either by deliberate actions or carelessness.
We have adopted the government's Enforcement Concordat which sets out principles of good practice in regulatory and enforcement activity and we do not take the decision to prosecute lightly.
Our compliance policy, which sets out the criteria we use when considering legal action, is attached to this page.
Before any criminal proceedings can be taken we are obliged to comply with 2 important tests:
- A prosecution must be in the public interest
- There must be sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of prosecution
Some offences may not come to our attention for some time and could have been committed a long time ago.
The business may now have amended its practices, be trading legally and present no problem to consumers.