SI 2016/315 The Explosives Regulations 2014 (Amendment) Regulations 2016 (link)
The purpose of this instrument is to transpose, in Great Britain, EU Directive 2014/28/EU on the harmonisation of the laws of the member States relating to the making available on the market and supervision of transfers of explosives for civil uses.
The intended effects of implementing the recast Directive are to improve the safety of civil explosives made available on the market by: ensuring that the obligations of all of the economic operators in the supply chain are clearer; adding to provisions on the traceability of civil explosives; and providing a more structured market surveillance regime.
The key changes introduced by the new regulations are:
– Clearly defined legal duties for all manufacturers, importers and distributors;
– Authorities can require corrective action to be taken by economic operators, or can require economic operators to withdraw or recall conforming civil use explosives from the market;
– Civil use explosives placed on the market must now be accompanied by instructions and safety information, in a language which is easily understood by consumers and end-users;
– Record keeping duties have been widened;
– Explicitly brings commercial ‘own use’ of explosives within the scope of conformity assessment;
– Non-compliance is now explicitly considered as both administrative (i.e. no CE mark applied) and safety based.
Specific guidance on the amending regulations has been issued by the HSE, and can be found here.
Source: HMSO/HSE