Consumer Goods: Electrical Safety

(asked on 25th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with the (a) Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and (b) Office for Product Safety and Standards on including the sale of unsafe electrical goods online as part of online harms legislation.


Answered by
Caroline Dinenage Portrait
Caroline Dinenage
This question was answered on 30th June 2020

Unsafe electrical goods pose an unacceptable risk to individuals. The law is clear: only safe products should be placed on the market. To tackle the sale of unsafe electrical goods online effectively, regulation must be consistent, transparent and joined-up.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards is in a unique position across Government to lead work tackling the sale of unsafe electrical goods. However, their work must align with broader work on digital regulation, which DCMS leads. My officials engage closely with the Office for Product Safety and Standards on the issue of unsafe electrical goods sold online.

Policy development for online harms legislation is ongoing, including on the scope of the new regulatory framework, to ensure that regulation is clear and proportionate, and that it does not duplicate existing government activity. We will be publishing the Full Government Response to the Online Harms White Paper Consultation later this year, before moving to legislation.

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