Office for Product Safety and Standards
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) was established in January 2018 and forms part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
What does the Office for Product Safety and Standards do?
OPSS oversees the regulatory system for product safety and standards in the UK. They aim to improve regulatory protections and support compliant businesses by working at the front line with businesses, local and national regulators and consumers.
How do they do this?
For consumers, the Office for Product Safety and Standards provides advice and information which will help them to avoid unsafe products. For businesses, they help them to comply with product safety regulations.
Publicly Available Specification (PAS 7100) “Supporting Better Product Recalls”
The Office for Product Safety and Standards sponsored PAS 7100, a linked code to assist businesses to monitor the safety of products and put a plan in place. PAS 7100 is designed to help businesses plan to deal with any potential product safety issues that might arise with products they have placed on the market or distributed. Recent campaigns from PAS 7100 have been around washing machine recalls and the safety of e-cigarette batteries.
What DGCOS think
“Consumer safety is incredibly important and it’s encouraging to see that this was recognised by the Government as a priority area for consumers. It’s a large area for businesses to navigate and consumers’ lives and health and safety could be at risk due to unsafe products so to have an agency to support and oversee product safety is very positive” comments Adrian Simpson, Director of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at DGCOS.
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