Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008
The Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act (the Act) 2008 is part of the Government’s commitment to implementing the Hampton agenda. It received Royal Assent on 21 July 2008.
Parts 1, 3 and 4 commenced on 1 October 2008 and Part 2 is due to commence on 6 April 2009.
Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 
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What does the Act cover?
The Act comprises four distinct, but linked, parts:
Part 1: Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO)
Firstly, it gives the Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO) statutory powers. Originally a limited company, the LBRO promotes more consistency across local authorities in the way they enforce regulations and work with central government.
Part 2: Coordination of regulatory enforcement
The second part of the Act establishes a Primary Authority Principle, which delivers the Government's commitment to place Home and Lead Authority Principles on a statutory footing. The Primary Authority scheme will be run by LBRO.
The effective operation of the scheme requires Statutory Instruments (SIs) to be made dealing with four key issues:
- The application of the scheme to Scotland and Northern Ireland;
- The definition of enforcement action;
- Exclusions from the requirement to notify the Primary Authority; and
- Determination by LBRO
The SIs have been laid for Parliamentary scrutiny. They can be accessed at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si200906
LBRO are undertaking several activities to prepare for the running of the Primary Authority scheme. A pilot of the scheme is underway with a range of national businesses and local authorities to form partnership for particular regulatory functions. Training materials have been developed to assist local authorities in understanding the operational detail of the scheme. In addition, LBRO are also running a series of regional road shows to help local authorities prepare for the scheme and explore the opportunities it provides for them and the businesses they serve. Places for the training can be booked through the Trading Standards Institute website: http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/events/Training_Courses.cfm
Please see LBRO’s website for further details of these initiatives http://www.lbro.org.uk/Pages/Article.aspx?id=292
Part 3: Civil sanctions
Part three of the Act also provides a framework of administrative sanctions that will allow regulators to tackle non-compliance in ways that are:
- transparent
- flexible
- proportionate to the offence.
Part 4: Regulatory burdens
Finally, the Act places a duty on specified regulators to:
- review the burdens they impose
- reduce any that are unnecessary and unjustifiable
- report on their progress annually.
The overall aim of this is to help regulators meet the requirements of the Government's better regulation agenda.
How might the provisions work in practice?
Guidance to the Act has been published.
Impact Assessments
The Government published a final Impact Assessment to accompany the SIs.
The Impact Assessment to accompany the draft Bill was revised when it moved from the House of Lords to the Commons in May 2008.
Consultations
The policy has been consulted on twice throughout its development. Most recently, we consulted on the detail of the three SIs needed to implement the Primary Authority scheme. The consultation closed on 3 December 2008 and the Government published its response on 16 March 2009. The consultation document and the Government response are available below:
The policy was previously consulted on between May-September 2007 for the development of the Bill. The consultation document and the Government response are available below:
Responses to the public consultations
Consultation on the SIs for the Primary Authority scheme September- December 2008
(1181KB)Consultation on the draft Bill May- September 2007
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