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The Scottish Government
Chief Medical Officer and Public Health Directorate
Public Health Division

T: 0131-244 2501 F: 0131-244 2157
E: Sarah.Conlon@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Recipient List at Annex D

24 June 2009

Dear Consultee

THE PUBLIC HEALTH ETC. (SCOTLAND) ACT 2008 (SUNBED) REGULATIONS 2009

This letter invites comments, by 17 September 2009, on the above draft regulations made under the powers contained in Part 8 of the Public Health etc. (Scotland) Act 2008. The regulations prescribe the information on the health effects of sunbed use to be provided to customers of sunbed premises (and the form and manner in which it is to be provided) and the information on the health effects of sunbed use to be displayed in sunbed premises (and the form and manner of display). The Regulations also prescribe the documents which may be used to establish that a user is over 18 years of age. A draft Regulatory Impact Assessment is also attached for comment.

Background

Section 8 of the Public Health etc. (Scotland) Act 2008 prohibits operators from allowing the use of sunbeds by under 18s in commercial premises; prohibits the sale or hire of sunbeds to under 18s; prohibits operators from allowing unsupervised use of sunbeds; places a duty upon the operator of a sunbed premise to display a public information notice; and requires operators to provide customers with information on the health risks associated with sunbed use. The information to be provided to customers (and the form and manner in which it is to be provided) and the information to be displayed in sunbed premises (and the form and manner of display of the notice) are to be prescribed by Scottish Ministers. The Act can be accessed at http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/acts2008/pdf/asp_20080005_en.pdf

Draft regulations prescribing this information are attached at Annex A for your consideration. The content was developed with the assistance of a wide-ranging working group including representation from sunbed operators, health professionals, environmental health colleagues, the Health & Safety Executive, the Federation of Small Businesses, COSLA, Cancer Research UK and Kenneth McIntosh MSP. An important consideration in the development of the Regulations was that they can only contain information on the health effects of sunbed use. Issues such as the precautions which should be taken when using a sunbed, e.g. to follow the recommended exposure times or to wear suitable eye protection, fall outwith the scope of these Regulations and are the responsibility of the Health and Safety Executive. Consultees should therefore bear this issue in mind when responding to the consultation. Consultees should also note that initial supplies of the notice to be displayed in sunbed premises and the information leaflets to be provided to users will be provided to sunbed operators by the Scottish Government free of charge. Thereafter supplies will be available to download from the Scottish Government website, also free of charge.

There is a legal requirement for a Regulatory Impact Assessment ( RIA) to accompany all draft regulations and a partial draft RIA is attached at Annex B, for your comment .

We have included at Annex C a list of questions on the Regulations and the accompanying draft RIA to aid your consideration and to assist with our analysis of your responses. A recipient list is attached at Annex D and further information is provided about the Scottish Government Consultation Process at Annex E.

Responding to this consultation paper

Written responses are requested by 17 September 2009. Please respond using the attached questionnaire (Annex C) to:

Email: Sarah.Conlon@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or

If you have any queries contact Sarah on 0131 244 2501.

This consultation is being run in parallel with the regulations being submitted to the European Commission, as required under the Technical Standards Directive, to allow Member States an opportunity to comment on the signage.

This consultation, and all other Scottish Government consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation webpages of the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations. You can telephone Freephone 0800 77 1234 to find out where your nearest public internet access point is.

The Scottish Government now has an email alert system for consultations. SEConsult can be accessed at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Consultations/seConsult. This system allows stakeholders, individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new consultations (including web links). SEconsult complements, but in no way replaces Scottish Government distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all Scottish Government consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form at the end of Annex C as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All responders should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public, these will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government Library by 21 October 2009. We will check all responses where agreement to publish has been given for any potentially defamatory material before logging them in the library or placing them on the website. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the SG Library on 0131 244 4565. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

What happens next?

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered prior to finalising the regulations. We will inform stakeholders of the outcome of the consultation. The current timetable for introduction of Part 8 of the Act and these regulations is 1 December 2009, although this may be subject to change. We are currently working with stakeholders to draw up guidance to help operators comply with the legislation, and to draw up guidance for enforcement officers to try to ensure a consistent approach to enforcement throughout Scotland.

Comments and Complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to Sarah Conlon, whose contact details are above.

Yours faithfully

Annette Stuart

Annette Stuart
Health Protection Team

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