1. An application for approval must be made on the appropriate form or via the Internet.

2. The Trading Standards Service will acknowledge membership application requests

3. Assessments of applicants will in most cases involve an inspection of the business premises, procedures, documents and products.

4. Any business that does not meet the terms and conditions of the scheme will not be eligible to join it.

5. The Service may also carry out the following to assess the applicant's suitability to join the scheme:

• Require the production of customer details in order to seek references for the business.

• Carry out criminal record/County Court judgement checks

• Check on your legal compliance with other regulators.

6. The Service will give due consideration to any complaints/ enquiries made by consumers about you to the Service along with information gathered through the Services normal market surveillance operations.

How can I find out more?

You can contact Trading Standards on any of the following: -