Electronic Equipment: Sales

(asked on 6th November 2020) - 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 assessment he has made of the potential effect on the number of people buying unsafe electrical products online of introducing regulations to require online sales platforms to (a) immediately remove goods deemed unsafe, (b) notify the buyer when they become aware that an unsafe item has been purchased and (c) take other steps to accept responsibility for the goods bought and sold on their websites.


Answered by
Paul Scully Portrait
Paul Scully
This question was answered on 11th November 2020

The Government is committed to ensuring that only safe products can be sold in the UK. Distributors, including those selling online, have legal responsibilities under the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 to ensure that equipment has the required labelling and that they do not make equipment available on the market where they know or suspect it to be unsafe. Manufacturers and importers must ensure that only safe electrical products are placed on the market, monitor the safety of their products in use and keep distributors informed of the monitoring.

The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) are conducting a review of the Product Safety framework to ensure it remains one of the best in the world in both protecting consumers and enabling businesses to innovate and grow. The review will consider the impact on product safety of new technologies and new business models, including e-commerce.

Reticulating Splines