Enterprise Bill begins its journey through House of Lords Details of the Enterprise Bill which aims to widen the scope of Primary Authority and reduce the red tape of national regulators have been published, after its first reading in the House of Lords. In general terms, the bill is intended to make the UK the best place in Europe to start and grow a business. It will create a Small Business Commissioner to enable firms to resolve disputes and avoid future issues through general advice and information. Other details include: l Extending the Business Impact Target* to include regulators l Supporting a positive shift in the way regulation is delivered by regulators l Simplifying the Primary Authority scheme In tandem with this, the Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO) has published a discussion document on changes to the Primary Authority scheme, which will be widened under the Enterprise Bill. Extending and simplifying Primary Authority: keeping the UK competitive, explains how the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, intends to bring the benefits of Primary Authority to as many businesses as possible, as simply as possible, through measures in the Enterprise Bill. Businesses and regulators are being encouraged to respond to the plans. Dr Adam Marshall, director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: I can see a lot of businesses being excited. If they are in a boundary area between one local authority and another they should be able to pick the one that makes it easiest for them to do business. The main purpose of the discussion document is to raise awareness of the proposals, and invite comments and evidence about how proposals to simplify and extend the scheme will affect businesses and regulators. Feedback is requested by 22 October 2015, in the first instance, and is still welcome after this date. See BRDOs dedicated area on Citizen Space for more information. CTSI will collate and forward members views if they are received at infocentre@tsi.org.uk by 12 October. The second reading of the bill in the House of Lords, when debate will officially begin, takes place on 12 October. * The Business Impact Target is a measure to entrench in law a deregulation target similar to the one in, two out approach and transparent reporting of new regulatory burdens on business Croydon operation reveals shops lax on knife sales A series of test-purchase operations over the past three years has discovered some businesses selling knives to youngsters in Croydon. During 37 visits to stores across the borough, trading standards test purchasers went unchallenged on several occasions, allowing them to buy a frightening array of knives. These ranged from intimidating meat cleavers to small, retractable hobby blades all of which, in the wrong hands, would be capable of causing serious injury or taking a life. Knives can only be sold to adults aged 18 or older. Most of the illegal sales were from stores selling all items for a fixed price. Such stores have often been found to have poor staff-training regimes and lax salecontrol systems. A change to the law, introduced in July, means that an adult convicted for a second time of an offence involving a knife could be imprisoned for at least six months, while 16 to 18-year-olds will get at least four months detention or a training order. fraudulent legal adviser sent to prison A fraudster who made more than 5,000 after posing as a legal adviser has been jailed for three years. Martin Williamson, 36, of Biggleswade, advertised himself online as a professional McKenzie Friend*, offering cheap legal services to people involved in cases concerning their children or grandchildren. The victims paid an up-front fee for Williamson to apply for court orders, arrange court dates, contact former partners legal firms, and liaise with social services and the Child Support Agency none of which he did. Williamson continued offending after being released on bail. The council also conducted a benefit investigation and established that Williamson had not declared three jobs, so had received 3,517 to which he was not entitled. He pleaded guilty at Luton Crown Court to 15 offences relating to family law, one count involving the fraudulent sale of a laptop, and six counts of benefit fraud, after a successful investigation by Central Bedfordshire Council, with assistance from Scambusters. Williamson was jailed in August for a total of three years for the family law offences, with no separate penalty for the laptop offence, and one month behind bars for each of the benefit fraud offences, to run concurrently with the main prison term. References: *A McKenzie Friend is a person who can help you in court by taking notes and giving advice, but they cant: Speak for you Interfere with proceedings Sign documents on your behalf This guidance applies to civil and family proceedings in the Courtof Appeal (Civil Division), the High Court of Justice, the County Courts and the Family Proceedings Court in the Magistrates Courts. Fighting fakes with inbuilt 3D barcodes A 3D barcode that can be built into products during manufacture to act asan anti-counterfeit marker has been developed by engineers inYorkshire. Estimates of the total value of fakes sold worldwide each year reach as high as $1.8tn (about 1.16tn). Most anti-counterfeit devices are stuck onto a product or its packaging after manufacture, making them easy to copy. However, this newly developed anti-counterfeit marker is designed to be an integral part of the product. It is virtually invisible to the naked eye and impossible to detect by touch, making it very difficult to reproduce. It can be read using a laser scanner, allowing anything from phones to pills to be tracked and verified as authentic. The technology devised by UK company Sofmat and developed in collaboration with engineers from the University of Bradford was revealed last month at the British Science Festival. The 3D barcode is made up of tiny indentations on the surface of the product, created by pins that are integrated into its mould. Using micro actuators, the pins can be set at different heights, each corresponding to either a letter (A-Z) or a number (0-9). The prototype developed with funding from Innovate UK works with a four-pin array, enabling more than 1.7 million configurations. A 3D barcode allows much more complexity than existing anticounterfeit systems, explains Sofmat director, Dr Phil Harrison. You can have multiple configurations, different codes on each individual product, and additional details such as patterns on the heads of the pins making copying of the code extremely difficult. For the first time, the same technology and coding can be used on bulk packaging, individual packaging and on the actual product, making it much harder to create and ship fake products. A laser scanner is currently being developed to wirelessly transmit the code, via an app, to either a phone or tablet. The patented technology is generating interest from the electronics, automotive and pharmaceutical industries, where counterfeiting is a serious problem.