What do trading standards cover

You can read our current business plan and last years annual report here. National Trading Standards delivers national and regional consumer protection enforcement. Its Board is made up of senior and experienced heads of local government trading standards from around England and Wales with an independent Chair.

Its purpose is to protect consumers and safeguard legitimate businesses by tackling serious national and regional consumer protection issues and organised criminality and protecting food supplies by ensuring the animal feed chain is safe. This has been under-pinned by the tireless efforts of Local Trading Standards around the country often struggling with limited resources but always making a difference to local communities.

It has been a privilege to be associated with NTS and with the wider Trading Standards community and I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for the incredibly important work that they do. We are not able to investigate or take action on all matters reported to us. Limited resources make it essential for us to prioritise, tackling the issues which cause the most detriment to Northern Ireland businesses and consumers:. The Trading Standards Service provides consumer advice via Consumerline , its consumer advice helpline.

Consumerline answers all consumer complaints and business enquiries on behalf of the Trading Standards Service in Northern Ireland. If you need consumer advice or would like to report an issue, or your business is in dispute with a consumer and you need some advice, you should contact Consumerline on 62 62 , 9am to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 9am to 4pm on a Friday, or use the online form:. Consumerline can provide you with comprehensive, professional advice on your rights and how to obtain appropriate redress.

If the business is not co-operative, then in some cases it may require you to take the matter to a civil court. We are not able to obtain redress on your behalf and we are not able to pursue cases in the civil courts for you. After you have reported a matter to Consumerline we will only make contact with you if we need further information or cooperation. We will only provide feedback if formal action has been taken to deal with the matter you reported — such as the case being taken to court.

Even if Trading Standards doesn't contact you, we might use your evidence to take action against the business in the future. For example, if other people make complaints about the same business. Trading Standards will endeavour to keep you up to date with what is happening but it is not always possible to do this. Every year we receive thousands of consumer complaints through Consumerline and from other agencies. Resource constraints mean we have to prioritise the most serious cases for intervention and use the others to help us to plan our prevention work.

A number of factors are used to determine how we prioritise each case:. We have a wide range of options available to us in terms of intervention, from writing to a business to advise them of their legal obligations, issuing Cautions and seeking injunctions to full prosecution. We have a duty to ensure in every case that the action taken is proportionate to the matter we are tackling. When we investigate a matter we must be sure that there is enough evidence to use in court and that the investigation would be in the public interest.

We can provide advice to businesses, helping them to comply with the law, and also carry out inspections to ensure wider legal compliance. We use risk rating and intelligence to determine which businesses we inspect. We will use our statutory enforcement powers to increase compliance with consumer protection law, and take enforcement action where appropriate, in line with our priorities.

Minor infringements are generally dealt with by means of informal action and would involve the officer drawing the matter to the attention of the individual or to the owner of the business or to an appropriate employee, and giving appropriate guidance. Where appropriate, a report will be left at the time of the visit or contained within a written letter of advice or warning.

Rarely will a minor or technical infringement result in more formal action being taken, particularly if it is capable of immediate rectification. A follow-up visit will usually be made, where circumstances demand, to ensure minor matters have been rectified. However, if previous advice has been ignored, or if there is another factor that warrants a formal response, TSS may choose to treat the incident in a formal way. Depending on the powers of the officer under the applicable legislation, and the remedy that best protects the public from harm, the officer may issue a statutory notice requiring that certain actions should be carried out within a given timescale.

It is the responsibility of the recipient to comply with the notice. Failure to do so may result in legal action being taken e. In other cases we will conduct an investigation in order to decide the appropriate course of action. However, they can apply to the courts for orders, which may restrict your activities.

A wide range of options are available, although the precise options vary depending on the nature of the breach of trading standards law. In most cases, businesses are keen to comply with the law and to avoid the risks and expenses of formal enforcement action. However, trading standards services always have formal enforcement options available to them. The decision to take formal action lies with the local authority, but it is likely that formal action will be taken in cases where there is a serious breach in terms of the detriment to customers or to other businesses through unfair competitive advantage or where the business has failed to respond to or engage with informal attempts to secure compliance.

Each trading standards service has an enforcement policy, which explains how they seek to ensure that the action they take is fair and proportionate. This can be requested from your local authority. Many breaches of trading standards law are criminal offences and can be prosecuted in the Magistrates' Court or Crown Court.

A successful prosecution may have a range of consequences, including the following:. This is a formal warning, which may be offered as an alternative to prosecution, where it is in the public interest to do so.

There is no obligation on trading standards services to offer a caution, but it might be offered for relatively minor first-time offending. For a range of breaches, trading standards services can apply to the County Court or High Court for an enforcement order requiring the business to comply with the law. This may include the following consequences:. This is a formal promise by the business to comply with the law and, where appropriate, to take enhanced consumer measures.

There is no obligation on trading standards services to accept an undertaking, but it may be accepted if the business genuinely appears to be committed to making amends. In some cases, trading standards services can issue a notice requiring the business to take action or to stop doing something, without the need to apply to court for an order. These notices have different names and different conditions depending on the law they are made under.

In general there will be a deadline to comply with the notice. If a business fails to comply with a notice, this can lead to court action; if the business disagrees with the use of the notice, it usually has the opportunity to apply to the court or a tribunal to appeal against it. Compliance notices are available under a range of laws, including food standards, animal health, product safety, weights and measures, and fair trading. In some cases, trading standards services can issue a penalty notice, in effect imposing a fine directly on a business without the need for court proceedings.

Such notices are available under a range of legislation, including laws relating to letting agents, secondary ticketing, single-use carrier bags and in some areas underage sales of alcohol.

The business can usually appeal to the court or a tribunal against the use of such a notice or against the level of penalty imposed. Trading standards services cannot order redress for individual consumers or take court action on their behalf, although they may offer advice and assistance to consumers making their own claims in court or through an alternative dispute resolution service see 'Alternative dispute resolution'.

Under some laws covered on this website - such as the Consumer Rights Act - it is unlikely that a trading standards service would prosecute; if you break these types of law you run the risk of being sued by consumers.

However, in the event of prosecution or an application for an enforcement order, trading standards services can ask for a court order requiring compensation to be paid. Although most trading standards law is intended to protect consumers, breaches of trading standards law put honest, reputable, compliant businesses at a disadvantage.

In addition, trading standards services enforce legislation that protects businesses such as the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations , covered in the 'Business-to-business marketing' guide and give advice to businesses.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to have regard to the desirability of promoting economic growth in their area, and trading standards services are therefore keen to promote successful, compliant business. Primary Authority is a scheme run by local authorities to offer advice to businesses. For more information see 'Primary Authority'.