Product regulation: market surveillance and enforcement framework

There are over 150 pieces of product safety and legal metrology legislation covering a diverse range of products and technical requirements. Within this landscape, the Product Safety Review identified the challenges presented by fragmented and overlapping enforcement powers, with multiple laws often applying to a single product. This complexity makes swift and consistent action difficult for relevant authorities, and can cause delay and confusion for businesses. Stakeholders also raised concerns about an over-reliance on criminal offences for breaches and called for a more flexible, proportionate approach to enforcement.

The Government has committed to reforms that will consolidate enforcement powers, introduce civil monetary penalties as an alternative to criminal prosecution, and ensure the system meets the challenges of modern supply chains and emerging technologies. Our goal is to create a more coherent suite of enforcement powers, together with better data sharing opportunities, to improve efficiency and use resources to the best effect,

This consultation should be read together with its companion consultation on the new core product safety framework. The proposals and questions in this document are in the format ‘B1, B2’ and in the other document are in the format ‘A1, A2’ Please ensure your answers reference the proposal and questions numbers with the correct letter and number.

Read and respond to the consultation on the UK’s new product safety framework.