Commentary on Sections Section 6: Defence of due diligence
15.Section 6 provides a defence for anyone accused of the offence in section 5. That defence is that they or anyone working for them or representing them had taken all reasonable precautions and had tried to the best of their ability to avoid committing the offence. It is considered that this will require the taking of positive measures such as training staff in their responsibilities. It will therefore not be a defence for accused persons to solely argue that they did not know the shop was in fact open for trade.