Electronic Commerce: Safety

(asked on 19th February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the potential merits of including the sale of unsafe goods within the scope of the Online Safety Bill.


Answered by
Paul Scully Portrait
Paul Scully
This question was answered on 24th February 2021

The UK Government is committed to tackling the sale of unsafe consumer products online. The UK’s national regulator, the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), works with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in considering the challenges and opportunities of e-commerce.

There is already an extensive regulatory framework aimed at ensuring the safety of goods, including those sold online. The OPSS is currently reviewing that framework to ensure it is fit for purpose, protects consumers, and enables businesses to innovate and grow. This is the best way to achieve a coherent and comprehensive framework for product safety. The OPSS will continue to work with DCMS and will consider any wider implications of the approach to other online harms in any future policy proposals on product safety.

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