PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Consumers: Protection (9 March 2016)

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to ensure that non-approved, sub-standard or fake safety products are not sold or passed on to the consumer.

Asked by:
Nick Thomas-Symonds (Labour)

Product safety legislation is in place to protect consumers, and is enforced by Trading Standards, who also enforce prohibitions against giving false information about products under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Where safety products bear a false trade mark, or deliberately copy a registered design, Trading Standards also have the ability to take enforcement action under intellectual property legislation.

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 sets out the standards consumers can expect of the goods they obtain from traders and remedies if these rights are breached. The standards include the need for goods to be of satisfactory quality (including being fit for the purposes for which goods of that kind are usually supplied, being safe, and matching any description the goods were sold under), fit for a particular purpose (if that purpose was made known before sale), and as described . If these requirements are breached, consumers are entitled to reject the goods (if in the first 30 days), or require the trader to repair or replace the goods.

Consumers can seek advice from the helpline run by Citizen’s Advice which offers a free service advising them on their rights and passes on details of complaints to Trading Standards where appropriate.

Answered by:
Nick Boles (Independent)
24 March 2016