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Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill [HL]

We of course support Amendment No. 134. We also support Amendments Nos. 144 and 154. Amendment No. 151 seeks to do much the same thing, in that it would enable a business in receipt of a notice of intent to opt instead for a court action, thereby ensuring that the court option would not only be available at the desire of the regulator, but also of the accused. It would therefore act as a brake on any regulator who tried to use the civil sanction procedure as an easy option to cut corners in determining whether an offence has been committed and in collecting the appropriate evidence. The prospect of a criminal conviction would act as a deterrent against a situation where a business used this route deliberately to bog down the system. In other words, other than where it had good reason to believe it would succeed.