Part 1: Corrosive products and substances Sale and delivery of corrosive products Section 1: Sale of corrosive products to persons under 18 and Schedule 1
The sale of certain types of acids, and other chemicals, is controlled by the Poisons Act 1972, as amended by the Deregulation Act 2015. The 1972 Act draws a distinction between "regulated substances" and "reportable substances". Regulated substances – which contain high concentrations of certain chemicals – are now restricted from sale to the general public. If a member of the general public wants to buy any of the regulated substances, they need to apply to the Home Office for a licence to import, acquire and to possess and use. Reportable substances can be bought without a licence, but retailers are required to report suspicious transactions and significant losses and thefts.
	Under subsection (1) of this section an individual commits an offence if they sell a corrosive product, as defined in Schedule 1 of the Act, to a person who is under the age of 18.
	Subsection (2) sets out a defence to this offence, in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, of having taken all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid committing the offence. This defence is similar to the one available in relation to the sale of knives and certain articles with a blade or a point under section 141A of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. Taking reasonable precautions and exercising due diligence would entail verifying the age of a purchaser through, for example, requiring them to produce recognised documents such as a passport or driving licence.
	Subsection (3) sets out a defence in Scotland where the accused is able to show that they believed the person to whom the product was sold was aged 18 or over and either the accused had taken reasonable steps to establish the purchaser’s age or no reasonable person, based on the purchaser’s appearance, could have suspected they were under 18. Reasonable steps must include that the accused was shown any of the documents listed in subsection (5) and that the document would have convinced a reasonable person. Under subsection (6), the accused will be considered to have shown they have taken all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence where they have produced sufficient evidence to raise an issue in relation to the defence and the contrary has not been proved beyond reasonable doubt.
	This offence is a summary only offence and subsection (7)(a) makes provision for a maximum penalty in England and Wales of imprisonment of 51 weeks, a fine, or both. The 51 weeks maximum sentence is contingent on section 281(5) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 coming into force and until that time the maximum sentence will be six months.
	Subsection (7)(b) makes provision for the maximum penalty that will apply to offences committed in Northern Ireland or Scotland, which is a term of imprisonment not exceeding 6 months, a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or both.
	Subsection (9) provides that proceedings in Scotland for an offence under subsection (1) must be commenced no later than 12 months following the commission of the offence.
	Subsection (11) makes it clear that, for the purposes of sections 2 to 4 of the Act, a corrosive product is a substance listed in the first column of Schedule 1 of this Act or a product that contains a substance listed in the first column of Schedule 1 in a concentration higher than that set out in the second column of Schedule 1.
	Subsection (12) provides that the appropriate national authority may amend Schedule 1 through regulations by adding, modifying or removing a substance or concentration limit.
	Subsection (13) places a requirement on the appropriate national authority to consult as appropriate such persons likely to be affected by the regulations before making them.
	Subsection (14) provides that the relevant national authority for the purposes of amending Schedule 1 by secondary legislation is the Secretary of State in relation to England, Wales and Scotland; and the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland in relation to Northern Ireland.
	Subsection (15) provides that references to a "corrosive product" in sections 1-4 do not include a substance or product which is contained in a battery.
	This section forms part of the law of the United Kingdom.