Local Authority Trading Standards Services protecting
consumers, working with business
Local Authority Trading Standards
Services make a significant contribution to local communities by making them
better places to live, work and do business.
We:
- have a direct impact on the well-being of local communities
- play a vital public health protection role
- work in partnership with others to drive improvements in
public protection, community safety, the environment, economic
development and consumer education
- are a valuable point of contact for businesses who need help,
advice and support
We achieve this by:
- taking action against rogues: disrupting the illegal economy
and tackling those who prey on vulnerable consumers
- supporting business: enabling them to comply with the
requirements of consumer law, ensuring fair competition and a thriving
local economy
- working with the police: preventing underage sales of
alcohol, fireworks, cigarettes, solvents and spray paints
- empowering and protecting consumers: [in partnership with
Consumer Direct] informing and educating them of their legal rights and
intervening to resolve disputes with businesses
- reducing the carbon footprint: promoting energy efficiency
and labelling and regulating excess packaging
- co-ordinated enforcement: tackling misleading price
information in shops and ensuring product safety standards are met
About Us
Trading Standards, or as they are sometimes known,
Consumer Protection Departments are a local authority
service.
Prior to local government reorganisation they operated at
county council level. Today almost all county councils,
unitary authorities, metropolitan boroughs and London
boroughs have a Trading Standards department.
Officers within each department enforce a range of
legislation, over 100 Acts of Parliament and over 600
separate Regulations.
These duties are carried out through inspection, sampling,
testing, investigation and advice......increasingly by
informing, advising and educating traders and consumers.
Many trading standards departments also have a consumer
advice section, which can advise consumers on their rights
when they have a consumer problem.
Contacting Us
 |
By post:
Brighton & Hove Trading Standards
Bartholomew House
Bartholomew Square
BRIGHTON
BN1 1JP |
By telephone:
Consumer advice : 08454 04 05 06
Business advice : 01273 292523
By e- mail:
trading.standards@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Market Surveillance
The Trading Standards Service will carry out enforcement of trading laws
through a variety of means, visiting trade premises including manufacturers,
importers and retailers. Premises deemed to be high risk will be visited
more often than those that are low risk.
Officers will ensure that weighing and measuring equipment is accurate
and goods are correctly labelled and described. Price inspections are
carried out in order to ensure prices are displayed for all goods and are
not misleading and goods such as toys and electrical appliances are sampled
and tested for safety and compliance with legislation.
If we receive any complaints or information about alleged breaches of
trading laws, we visit traders in order to advise them on how to comply with
the legislation and will promote the
Home Authority Principle.
Counterfeiting
Trading Standards Enforcement Officers regularly attend the various
markets that take place throughout the year, including the Bank Holiday
markets and some regular car boot sales. Unfortunately, there are sometimes
sellers offering counterfeit and pirated goods, however these goods can be
seized and destroyed by Trading Standards and the owners prosecuted.
Counterfeit goods are those that are manufactured using trade marks trade
names or designs that make them look like genuine branded goods. Mostly,
these include sports and leisure wear, belts, wallets, watches, DVDs and
computer games. Counterfeiting is detrimental in several ways. The consumer
is often paying for sub-standard, poor quality goods or badly copied DVDs
and computer games, meaning the manufacturers and retailers of the genuine
articles are losing out on business or sometimes if the item is mistaken for
the genuine article then their reputation can be damaged. Counterfeiting is
also linked to organised crime, meaning that the money spent on pirated
copies and counterfeit goods is actually funding many more serious types of
crime worldwide.
Complaints and Enquiries
If you wish to complain about a trader then you can contact
Consumer Direct South East,
who will be able to offer advice and log the details of your complaint. You
can call them on 08454 04 05 06. Your complaint will be referred
through to the local Trading Standards Department if this is appropriate.
Weights and Measures
In the UK,
transactions in goods by weight or measure are, in most
cases, regulated by the Weights and Measures Act 1985 and
its secondary legislation the Weights and Packaged Goods
Regulations 1986. These regulations ensure that consumers
can be confident that they are not being sold short weight
or measure, and businesses are protected from competitors
gaining unfair advantages by breaking these laws.
Trading
Standards departments are responsible for enforcing weights
and measures law. We routinely test weighing and measuring
equipment used for trade to ensure its accuracy and
check-weigh goods to ensure the declared quantity has been
supplied. We also carry out tests on production lines of
pre-packed foods to check that the quantity declared for
each ingredient on the packs is correct.
Information for
Consumers
Traders are
allowed to show the weight of a product in imperial, so long
as the metric equivalent is also shown and the imperial
measurement is not more prominent.
It is illegal to
weigh or advertise a product by only using imperial
measurement. If you do want to report a shop/trader for
doing this, you need to contact your local Trading Standards
Department (address below) who are responsible for enforcing
the Weights and Measures Act.
All packers of
packaged goods in this country have to comply with either
the average system or the minimum system, depending on the
product. The average system requires packers to ensure that
not more than one in 40 packages contain less than the
weight or volume stated on the label and none contains less
than a set level below the quantity stated. The minimum
system, which is used for ‘catch weights’ or variable
weights, requires that every package should contain at least
the quantity stated
Information for Businesses
If you want to
sell packaged goods in the UK, you must state the weight or
volume of the contents on the package. Most packaged goods
that are made up within the range of 5g to 10kg or 5ml to 10
L have to state the weight or volume. However there are
exceptions to this and suggest you check your product
against the Packaged Goods Regulations, or check with your
local Trading Standards Department.
Most packages in
the UK are packed using the ‘average’ system, as set out in
the Packaged Good Regulations. Some products are still
packed using the minimum system, although this mainly
applies to catch weigh or variable weight packages. The
average system is used across the European Community, and
indeed in most countries throughout the world. The
fundamental aim of the average system is to ensure that
consumers can rely on the accuracy of quantity indications
and are protected against unlawful short measure whilst
recognising that there is inherently some fluctuation in the
automatic packing process and setting tolerances to allow
for small fluctuations.
To comply with
the ‘average system’, packages must be marked with the
weight or volume of the contents and packers and imports
must work to three rules:
1. The contents
of the packages must not be less on average than the nominal
quantity (i.e. that marked on the label)
2. Not more than 1 Package in 40 may contain less than the
nominal quantities, by more than an amount know as the
tolerable negative error. This varies according to the
quantity stated on the package.
3. No packages are allowed to contain less than the nominal
quantity by more than twice the tolerable negative error.
A “Code of
practical guidance for packers and importers” on meeting the
requirements of the average system, is available from The
Stationery Office by visiting
www.tso.co.uk or by calling 0870 600 5522.
The average
system does not cover all packages. It applies to goods made
up in packages to a predetermined constant quantity above
5gm or 5 ml and to some other goods, such as unwrapped bread
and knitting yarn, which are listed in the Packaged Goods
Regulations. For example, packs of Cheddar cheese made up to
a nominal quantity of 250 g are included, but packs of the
same cheese which are made up, weighed and marked with the
weight they happen to contain (i.e. catch weights) are
outside the average system. Certain goods, such as, ice
cream, cakes, fresh fruit and vegetables are excluded, as
are goods used in processing, very small and very large
packages.
A packer
is a person who places goods into packages. However, this
may not necessarily be the person named on the package, or
the person whose brand or trademark appears on the label. A
person who packs under contract for a large chain of
supermarkets is the packer and must meet all the legal
duties.
A packer’s main duty is to ensure that packages will pass a
special statistical test called a ‘Reference Test’. This is
conducted by Trading Standards Officers and shows whether
the packer complies with the three rules. Packers must also:
- make up all their
packages on equipment listed in the Regulations, or
- check regular samples
of the packages using equipment listed in the Regulations
and keep a record of the checks for one year.
The packer has a
duty to mark the packages legibly and permanently with the
nominal quantity and the name and address of the packer or
the person arranging for the packing to be done, or a mark
that will enable an inspector to identify the packer.
The law defines
an importer as the ‘person by whom or on whose behalf
the package is entered for customs purposes on importation’.
A person who brings, for example, canned fruit into the UK
which it is intended will be sold through wholesalers is the
importer. If the same person brings cans into the country on
behalf of a supermarket chain, then the supermarket chain is
the importer. However, a person who brings packages into the
UK from other EC Member States bearing the ‘e’ mark is not
treated as an importer.
Importers are
responsible for the quantity contained in packages and for
ensuring they are correctly marked. In addition, importers
have a duty either to carry out checks to confirm the
quantity and keep a record of the checks for one year, or to
obtain certification documents in order to provide an
adequate guarantee of quantity. Certification documents must
be either:
- records of checks
carried out overseas on the packages, or
- a certificate from
the overseas weights and measures authority that they
operate controls equivalent to the average system, or
- a declaration from
the overseas packer that the packages have been packed to
the minimum system.
The ‘e’ Mark
The ‘e’ mark is a
special symbol that looks like this:
 
It must be at
least 3mm high and appear in the same field of vision as the
statement of nominal quantity.
The mark
constitutes a guarantee by the packer or importer that a
package to which it is applied has been made up in
accordance with the average system. It acts as a
metrological passport throughout the European Community.
There are restrictions on its use and in most cases packers
or importers who intend to export ‘e’ marked goods must
notify their local weights and measures authority. Local
authorities may exempt packers and importers from this
obligation and they should always be contacted before the
‘e’ mark is first applied to packages.
Animal Health and Welfare
We are responsible for checking identification, breeding
and movement records of animals on farms. We also check
records and monitor the welfare of animals during transport.
We have a major support role to DEFRA in the event of
notifiable disease outbreak and have responsibility for
drawing up contingency plans for diseases such as rabies,
anthrax and foot & mouth.
We are responsible for ensuring the proper disposal of
animal carcases and by-product, on farms and agricultural
holdings.
We investigate reports of any animal alleged to have been
illegally imported into the UK and subsequently brought into
the City of Brighton & Hove. Our powers enable us to seize
and detain such animals and order their exportation,
detention in quarantine or destruction.
IF YOU INTEND MOVING ANIMALS....YOU WILL NEED A
LICENCE.
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND AN APPLICATION FORM ...
PLEASE CONTACT - Donna Lynsdale on 01273 292523
Brighton & Hove City Council Trading Standards, Bartholomew House, Bartholomew Square, Brighton BN1 1JP.
Business Line: (01273) 292523 Fax:
(01273) 292524 Electronic Mail:
trading.standards@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Consumer Advice Line: 08454 04 05 06. Consumer Advice Electronic Mail: www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/contact_us.shtml
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