Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with producers of personal protective equipment regarding regulatory or technological solutions to the issue of short use-by dates for such equipment.

The Personal Protective Equipment Regulation 2016/425 sets out essential safety requirements that PPE must meet. This includes an obligation on the manufacturer to give, if possible, the month and year of obsolescence, if it is known that the design performance may be significantly affected by ageing.

The Government has had no discussions with PPE producers about changing this requirement in the Regulation, but welcomes new technological innovation to improve short PPE use-by dates.