Poisons (Jersey)
Law 1952[1]
A LAW for controlling the sale and
use of poisons[2]
Commencement [see endnotes]
PART 1
INTERPRETATION
1 Interpretation
(1) In
this Law, unless the context otherwise requires –
“container”
includes a wrapper;
“Court” means
the Inferior Number of the Royal Court;
“dispensing”,
in relation to a medicine or a poison, means supplying a medicine or a poison
on and in accordance with a prescription duly given by a registered medical
practitioner, registered dentist or registered veterinary surgeon;
“Minister”
means the Minister for Health and Social Services;
“Order” means
an Order made by the Minister under this Law;
“person lawfully
conducting a retail pharmacy business” shall be construed in accordance
with Article 68 of the Medicines
(Jersey) Law 1995;
“poison” has
the meaning assigned thereto by Article 8;
“Poisons List”
has the meaning assigned thereto by Article 8;
“prescribed”
means prescribed by Order;
“registered pharmacy”
has the meaning assigned thereto by Article 73 of the Medicines
(Jersey) Law 1995;
“retail pharmacy
business” has the meaning assigned thereto by Article 1 of the Medicines
(Jersey) Law 1995;
“sale by way of
wholesale dealing” means a sale to a person who buys for the purpose of
selling again;
“substance”
includes a preparation.[3]
(2) In
this Law “non-medicinal poison” means a substance which is for the
time being included in Part 1, Part 2 or Part 3 of the Poisons
List and is neither –
(a) a
medicinal product as defined by Article 2 of the Medicines
(Jersey) Law 1995; or
(b) a
substance in relation to which, by virtue of an Order under Article 93 or
94 of that Law the provisions of Articles 51 to 53 and Articles 68 to
77 of that Law have effect as they have effect in relation to medicinal
products as so defined.[4]
PART 2[5]
PART 3[6]
POISONS
8 Poisons List
(1) The
Minister shall prescribe a list of substances which are to be treated as
poisons for the purposes of this Law (hereinafter referred to as the
“Poisons List”) and such list shall be divided into 3 parts as
follows –
Part 1 of the list
shall consist of those substances which, where they are non-medicinal poisons,
are by virtue and subject to the provisions of this Law prohibited from being
sold except by a person lawfully conducting a retail pharmacy business;
Part 2 of the list
shall consist of those substances which, where they are non-medicinal poisons,
are by virtue and subject to the provisions of this Law prohibited from being
sold except by a person lawfully conducting a retail pharmacy business or whose
name is entered in the list kept in pursuance of Article 11 of this Law;
Part 3 of the list
shall consist of those poisons which are not to be used except by a person or
body authorized in writing by the Minister to use such poisons as may be
specified in the authorization, subject to such conditions as may be so
specified.[7]
(2) In
determining the distribution of poisons, as between Parts 1 and 2 of the said
list, regard shall be had to the desirability of restricting the said Part 2
to articles which are in common use, or likely to come into common use, for
purposes other than the treatment of human ailments and which it is reasonably
necessary to include in the said Part 2 if the public are to have adequate
facilities for obtaining them.
(3) The
said list as in force for the time being is in this Law referred to as the
“Poisons List”, and in this Law “poison” means a poison
included in the Poisons List.
9 Restrictions on sale of poisons
(1) Subject
to the provisions of this Part of this Law, it shall not be lawful –
(a) for a
person to sell any non-medicinal poison which is a substance included in Part 1
of the Poisons List unless –
(i) he
or she is a person lawfully conducting a retail pharmacy business,
(ii) the
sale is effected on premises which are a registered pharmacy, and
(iii) the
sale is effected by, or under the supervision of, a pharmacist;
(b) for a
person to sell any non-medicinal poison which is a substance included in Part 2
of the Poisons List unless –
(i) he
or she is a person lawfully conducting a retail pharmacy business and the sale
is effected on premises which are a registered pharmacy, or
(ii) his
or her name is entered in the list kept in pursuance of Article 11 of this
Law in respect of the premises on which the poison is sold;
(c) for a
person to sell any non-medicinal poison, whether it is a substance included in Part 1
or 2 of the Poisons List, unless the container of the poison is labelled in the
prescribed manner –
(i) with
the name of the poison,
(ii) in
the case of a preparation which contains a poison as one of the ingredients thereof,
with the prescribed particulars as to the proportion which the poison contained
in the preparation bears to the total ingredients,
(iii) with
the word “poison” or other prescribed indication of the character
of the article, and
(iv) with
the name of the seller of the poison and the address of the premises on which
it was sold.[8]
(2) Subject
to the provisions of this Part of this Law and of any Order dispensing with or
relaxing any of the requirements of this paragraph –
(a) it
shall not be lawful to sell any non-medicinal poison which is a substance
included in Part 1 of the Poisons List to any person unless that person is
either –
(i) certified
in writing in the prescribed manner by a person authorized by Order to give a
certificate for the purposes of this Article, or
(ii) known
by the seller or by some pharmacist in the employment of the seller at the
premises where the sale is effected,
to be a person to whom
the poison may properly be sold;
(b) the
seller of any such poison shall not deliver it until –
(i) he
or she has made or caused to be made an entry in a book to be kept for that
purpose stating, in the prescribed form, the date of the sale, the name and
address of the purchaser and of the person, if any, by whom the certificate
required under sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph was given, the name and
quantity of the article sold, and the purposes for which it is stated by the
purchaser to be required, and
(ii) the
purchaser has affixed his or her signature to the entry aforesaid.[9]
10 Exemption with respect to sales by wholesale and sales to certain
persons[10]
Except as provided by Order,
nothing in the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Law shall extend to or
interfere with –
(a) the
sale of poisons by way of wholesale dealing;
(b) the
sale of poisons to be exported to purchasers outside Jersey; or
(c) the
sale of an article by a person carrying on a business, in the course of which
poisons are regularly sold either by way of wholesale dealing or for use by the
purchasers in their trade, business or profession to –
(i) any
Department of the Government of the United Kingdom,
any administration of the States or any parochial authority requiring the article
for the purposes of the public service, or
(ii) a person
or institution concerned with scientific education or research, if the article
is required for the purpose of that education or research.
11 Certain persons other than persons lawfully conducting a retail
pharmacy business to be entitled to sell non-medicinal poisons in Part 2
of Poisons List[11]
(1) Any
person who, not being a person lawfully conducting a retail pharmacy business
desires to be entitled, subject to the provisions of this Law, to sell
non-medicinal poisons which are included in Part 2 of the Poisons List,
may apply to the Minister in the prescribed form for his or her name and the
address of the premises on which he or she desires to be entitled to sell such
poisons to be entered on a list to be kept by the Minister for the purposes of
this Article and, subject as hereinafter provided, the Minister shall enter in
the list the name and address of the premises of any person who makes such an
application as aforesaid:
Provided that the Minister
may refuse to enter in, or may remove from, the list the name of any person who
in the opinion of the Minister is, for any sufficient reasons relating either
to him or her personally or to his or her premises, not fit to be on the list.[12]
(2) If
any person is aggrieved by the refusal of the Minister to enter his or her name
in the said list or by the removal of his or her name therefrom, he or she may
appeal to the Court against the refusal or removal.
(3) If
any person whose name is entered in the said list is convicted before any court
of any criminal offence which, in the opinion of the court, renders him or her
unfit to have his or her name on the list, the court may, as part of the
sentence, order his or her name to be removed from the list and direct that he
or she shall, for such period as may be specified in the order, be disqualified
for having his or her name entered in the list.
(4) The
said list shall be open at all reasonable times to the inspection of any person
without fee.
(5) It
shall not be lawful for any person whose name is entered in the said list to
use in connection with his or her business any title, emblem or description
reasonably calculated to suggest that he or she is entitled to sell any poison
other than a poison which he or she is under this Law entitled to sell, and, if
any person acts in contravention of this paragraph, he or she shall be liable
in respect of each offence to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the standard
scale.[13]
(6) In
this Article “relating to the person personally” means, in relation
to a person being a body corporate, relating personally to the members of the
board, or to the manager or other officers of the body corporate.
12 Prohibition on sale of poisons by means of automatic machines
It shall not be lawful
for a poison to be exposed for sale in, or to be offered for sale by means of,
an automatic machine.
PART 4
MISCELLANEOUS
13 Consultation with pharmacists
The Minister may nominate
not less than 2, and not more than 4, pharmacists to advise the Minister in the
discharge of his or her functions under this Law, and any such nomination may
be terminated by the Minister should it so think fit.[14]
14 Power of Minister to make Orders
(1) The
Minister may, by Order, make provision with respect to any of the following
matters or for any of the following purposes –
(a) the
sale, whether by wholesale or by retail, or the supply, of non-medicinal
poisons by or to any persons or classes of persons, and, in particular, but
without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions –
(i) for
regulating or restricting the sale or supply of non-medicinal poisons by
persons whose names are entered in the list kept in pursuance of Article 11
and for prohibiting the sale of any specified non-medicinal poison or class of
non-medicinal poisons by any class of such persons, and
(ii) for
dispensing with or relaxing with respect to non-medicinal poisons any of the
provisions contained in Part 3 relating to the sale of non-medicinal
poisons;
(b) the
storage, transport and labelling of non-medicinal poisons;
(c) the
containers in which non-medicinal poisons may be sold or supplied;
(d) the
addition to non-medicinal poisons of specified ingredients for the purpose of
rendering them readily distinguishable as non-medicinal poisons;
(e) the
compounding and dispensing of non-medicinal poisons;
(f) the
period for which any books required to be kept for the purposes of Part 3
are to be preserved;
(g) the
period for which any certificate given under Part 3 is to remain in force;
(h) for
prescribing anything which is by this Law to be prescribed.[15]
(2) The
power to make provision under this Article with respect to non-medicinal
poisons includes the power to make provision with respect to any class of
non-medicinal poisons or any particular non-medicinal poison.[16]
15 [17]
16 Penalties
(1) A
person who acts in contravention of or fails to comply with any of the
provisions of Part 3 (other than Article 11(5)) or of any Order shall
be liable in respect of each offence to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the
standard scale.[18]
(2) In
the case of proceedings against a person under this Article for or in connection
with the sale, exposure for sale, use or supply of a poison effected by an
employee –
(a) it
shall not be a defence that the employee acted without the authority of the
employer; and
(b) any
material fact known to the employee shall be deemed to have been known to the
employer.[19]
(3) In
any proceedings for an offence against this Law, a certificate stating the
result of any analysis made on behalf of the Minister shall be admissible in
any proceedings under this Law as evidence of the matters stated therein but
the prosecution or the defendant or person charged with the offence may require
the person by whom the analysis was made to be called as a witness.
17 Inspection
(1) Any
officer in an administration of the States for which the Minister is assigned
responsibility, being a pharmacist, generally or specially authorized in
writing in that behalf (in this Article referred to as an
“inspector”) shall be entitled at all reasonable times, subject to
the production by him or her if so required of evidence of his or her
authority, to enter any registered premises, or the premises on which any person
whose name is entered in the list kept in pursuance of Article 11 carries
on business, or any premises in which he or she has reasonable cause to suspect
that a breach of the provisions of this Law or of any Order has been committed,
and, in any such case, he or she shall have power to make such examination and
enquiry and to do such other things (including the taking, on payment therefor,
of samples) as may be necessary for ascertaining whether the provisions are
being complied with.[20]
(2) If
a person wilfully delays or obstructs an inspector in the exercise of any
powers under this Article, or refuses to allow any sample to be taken in
accordance with the provisions of this Article, or fails without reasonable
excuse to give any information which he or she is duly required under this Article
to give, he or she shall in respect of each offence be liable to a fine not
exceeding level 2 on the standard scale.[21]
(3) Nothing
in this Article shall authorize any inspector to enter or inspect the premises,
not being a shop, of a registered medical practitioner, registered dentist or
registered veterinary surgeon.
18 Citation
This Law may be cited as the Poisons (Jersey)
Law 1952.[22]