Enfield Trading Standards have won a significant court battle against a Director and his company whose imported toys were repeatedly found to breach safety regulations.
Memon Imports Limited, and its former Director Mr Hamza Memon (33) of Wellesley Road, Ilford, were each found guilty of 12 offences under the Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011 and one offence of supplying a toy that contained excessive Phthalates contrary to the REACH Enforcement Regulations 2008.
Mr Memon had pleaded not guilty to all the 14 charges he faced, including one offence of supplying a forged test certificate to investigators under the REACH regulation, (REACH means Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals). The company was unrepresented.
On 19 February 2019 Highbury Magistrates’ fined Mr Memon £1,008, including a £48 victim surcharge, and ordered the company to pay £8,000 in fines, along with costs of £26, 604.42 including a £100 victim surcharge.
The Court heard how Enfield Trading Standards had been investigating the business for three years during which a number of products labelled with the name Memon Imports Limited had been sent for independent testing after being found on sale at a Sam 99p Limited store in Edmonton.
Despite several requests technical documents, that are legally required to be kept, concerning various toys including a Speed Car, Racer Speed Zone, Doctor Kit, Dart Blaster and Set Po
These suction darts contained excessive Phthalates
lizia failed to be produced.
The Set Polizia contained a toy gun with suction darts that were found to have excessive levels of Phthalates, a chemical that is classified as a CMR – carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction – and particularly harmful to boys.
The defendants were found to have inadequate systems in place to ensure the toys they were importing had been tested to the relevant European Standards and were safe. They also supplied a forged test certificate to Trading Standards during the course of the investigation.
Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Cllr Guney Dogan, said: “The protection of children from unsafe goods is a high priority for Enfield Council and we will continue to monitor local traders on a regular basis to ensure they, and the importers who supply them, are complying with the law. Importers have a duty to ensure all products they import are safe to place onto the market.”
“I am delighted that Enfield Council’s Trading Standards and Legal teams have helped to stop these toys from being sold – toys that could have had a severe impact on the health of young children.”
Stephen Knight, Operations Director for LTS said: ” This is yet another example of the critical work carried out by London Borough Trading Standards teams to protect consumers from dangerous and illegal products and bring to justice the criminals seeking to profit from this trade.”