EPCs – failure to supply

Does a failure to supply an EPC in a transaction where one is where legally required to be supplied have any effect on the validity of the contract? We think not. “Today’s generation is dominated by that ever-mounting mass of legislative control. [In] support of that control, numberless offences have been created each with its appropriate penalty, and it is for the courts to see that this does not result in additional forfeitures and injustices which the legislature cannot have intended.” This is not a modern day comment, but one from the Sachs LJ in Shaw v Groom [1970] 1 All ER 702. Where an EPC is not supplied, a legal wrong is committed in the course of performance of the contract, but not in the very performance itself. Such a contract ought not therefore to be prejudiced. The June issue of the CPI Update – click on CPI Update – June 2008 – explores further.