Clause 5 - Advertising: defences
Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Bill
10:30 am
Ms Yvette Cooper (Parliamentary Secretary (Public Health), Department of Health; Pontefract and Castleford, Labour)
Given that the amendments are slightly different from each other, I shall refer to them in turn. Amendments Nos. 26, 27 and 28 would replace ``had no reason to suspect'' with ``could not reasonably have been expected to know''. They reflect the key argument made by the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman). It is not at all clear that there is any material difference between the two forms of wording, and it is hard to think of an example that might fail one test but pass another. If a vendor was given good reason to suspect, or was told that there might be a tobacco advertisement in a particular product and did not check, clearly, he had reason to suspect. He could also have been reasonably expected to know. He had the power to check, but did not do so. That case would fail both tests. I cannot think of an example of a case that would fail one test and not the other. The material difference is unclear.