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Sunbeds (Regulation) Bill

As my hon. Friend the Minister responsible for public health has said on previous occasions, the Government fully support the Sunbeds (Regulation) Bill. It is about tackling a public health issue and protecting young people, but we believe that it will also raise awareness of the dangers of sunbed use more generally. I shall speak first to the new clause that the hon. Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope) tabled. The new clause would make it an offence, punishable by a fine of up to £20,000 to sell or hire a sunbed that failed to comply with a European technical standard or that emitted a certain level of UV radiation. The proposed new clause is therefore about product safety and technical standards. Product safety for consumers is a very important issue. There is already existing national legislation, implementing European Community legislation, which covers the safety of both new and second-hand products, including sunbeds. The European safety framework for sunbeds is based on directive 2006/95/EC, commonly referred to as the low voltage directive; directive 2001/95/EC, the general product safety directive; and European standard EN60335-2-27. In the UK, the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994 implement the low voltage directive and cover all new products that are supplied on the Community market. The General Product Safety Regulations 2005 implement the general product safety directive and apply to all products—whether new or used—that are intended for consumers, except where other Community legislation contains specific safety requirements with the same objectives. The General Product Safety Regulations 2005 require that all supplied products within their scope are safe. A product is considered to be safe if it complies with national safety rules or voluntary national standards transposing European standards, such as the standard that applies to sunbeds and to which the new clause refers. That standard also provides a presumption of conformity with the low voltage directive. It has applied since 1 April 2009 and currently imposes the same UV radiation limit to which the new clause refers. However, as we all know, scientific knowledge advances and what may be considered a safe limit today may change in the future. A reference to specific radiation limits in the legislation could make it out of date as scientific knowledge advances. If the radiation limit in the standard were changed, and the proposed new clause were accepted, primary legislation would be needed to update the limit. The Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994 use the definition of "supply" in the Consumer Protection Act 1987. The General Product Safety Regulations also define "supply" broadly. In both cases, the definitions of "supply" are considerably wider than that proposed in the new clause. The Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations and the General Product Safety Regulations together provide a legislative framework that is more robust than the one that the new clause proposes. There is therefore no need for the new clause. It refers both to the European standard and to a limit for the UV radiation that is emitted by a sunbed. A reference to specific technical standards in legislation would necessitate formal notification to the European Commission, and that requirement is intended to avoid the creation of new technical barriers to trade within the Community. Under that notification procedure, member states and the Commission have an opportunity to raise concerns about potential barriers to trade. Adherence to the European standard in the new clause might invoke objections to the draft legislation because the standards are voluntary. No national legislation can conflict with Community harmonising legislation.