VPDS068000 - Vaping Products Duty and Vaping Duty Stamps: Manufacture - approval: Reasonable and proportionate tests
When you make a decision, you will have to show that it is reasonable and proportionate. And you will have to explain why you made that decision, with evidence, to the business.
Wednesbury Reasonableness
Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury
Corporation [1948]:
This is the main test you must apply to any of your
decisions. It means that
you must not:
- take into account something irrelevant
- disregard something which is relevant
- act in a way that no reasonable body could have acted
Every time you make a decision which affects a business and
their application, you should ask yourself; "is the decision so
unreasonable that no reasonable person in a position of authority would have
arrived at it?". In other words, you must look at all the relevant information to make a balanced, rational decision.
So, you will look at the fit and proper test, the detail
provided in the application and all other business information available to you
and weigh this up before you make your decision.
You can find out more about Wednesbury reasonableness in the
Compliance Handbook at CH175230.
Proportionality test
Human Rights Act - Article 13 of ECHR: there are different criteria to test whether a decision is proportionate. You must be able to show that your decision:
- was suitable and necessary to achieve the desired objective
- has not imposed excessive burdens on the individual
The 'desired objective' here is to meet the aim of the VPD and VDS regimes, protect the revenue, and cut the level of fraud within the vaping products sector.