Enhancing product safety for consumers

Much of the UK’s existing framework for product safety comes from European law which has developed over the past 40 years. However, the law has not kept up to date with the modern world.  

The way that consumers purchase products has changed significantly, with internet sales now making up nearly 27 per cent of total retail sales. Further, the nature of products has also changed, with many increasingly including connected or AI features.  

Supply chains have changed, environmental impact needs to be considered, and novel products such as e-bikes, lithium-ion batteries and button batteries also pose new threats. It has been clear for some time that the law needs to be updated to allow the UK to keep pace with technological and other advances to provide greater protection to consumers. 

Since Brexit, Europe has been working on its own reforms to key product safety legislation. From December 2024, the new General Product Safety Regulation will replace the existing General Product Safety Directive, which the UK’s General Product Safety Regulations 2005 are based on.

The EU is also replacing the Product Liability Directive 1985 (implemented into the UK by the Consumer Protection Act 1987) with a new directive which was adopted by the European Council on 10 October 2024. Once the PLD has been published in the Official Journal of the EU, it will be put into effect on the 20th day after publication. EU Member States will then have two years to implement the new PLD into their domestic legislation (i.e. by the end of 2026). 

There is provision within the Bill to give the Government powers to update the law to recognise new or updated EU product regulations or end recognition of EU product regulations. 

Medicines, medical devices and food products form part of the list of excluded products will continue to be covered by authorities such as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulation Agency (MHRA). 

The UK’s Product Safety and Metrology Bill as drafted is enabling legislation. As such, there is very little detail on the face of it. It will be difficult to assess the impact for consumers until the secondary legislation has been drafted.