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About Us

Fife is an ancient kingdom in eastern Scotland with an area of 132,256 hectares and a population of over 350,000.

Local authority administration is carried out by Fife Council. Trading Standards laws regulate the quantity, quality and safety of goods and require traders to trade fairly. Areas of activity include anti-counterfeiting, price marking, underage sales, consumer safety and animal feeds.

Trading Standards enforcement officers are professionals who enforce the full range of trading standards legislation. They give legal advice and support to ensure compliance with the law, investigate complaints and check the quality of goods and services.

Trading Standards Officers are qualified Inspectors of Weights and Measures, and as such, test weighing machines, petrol pumps and other measuring equipment used for trade.

Officers are based within the Regulation and Intervention sections of Environmental Services.

We also provide an Advice Service:

We offer a free advice service on all aspects of consumer law, both Trading Standards and civil law. In addition we provide a confidential money advice service to those with debt problems.

We are based in Kingdom House in Glenrothes, part of the Fife Council Headquarters complex. If you are unable to come to our offices, we may be able to arrange a home visit.

And a Business Advice Service:

We operate the 'Home Authority Principle', this means if your business is based in Fife we will endeavour to provide you with up to date information, relevant to your business through a nominated contact officer. We aim to help your business stay competitive by providing specialist knowledge. We also have a UKAS accredited laboratory to provide accurate determinations of mass and calibration of your own equipment using traceable standards.

Complaints and Enquiries

Consumer Direct is a telephone and online advice and information service for consumers in Great Britain. Your case will be referred to your local Trading Standards Authority or similar agency if they are better suited to assist you.

Every year we receive approximately 6000 complaints and enquiries from consumers and businesses. Most of the complaints are about faulty goods or poor services.

Some complaints may involve a criminal offence. These complaints are dealt with by enforcement staff. These may involve:
Weights and Measures
Fair Trading
Safety
Credit

Contact us to make a complaint or enquiry.

Market Surveillance

We carry out enforcement of trading laws by a variety of means:

By visiting trade premises including manufacturers, importers and retailers. Visits are programmed according to a risk assessment.

Ensuring that weighing and measuring equipment is accurate, goods are safe and correctly labelled, prices are displayed and descriptions used are true.

Goods are sampled and tested for safety, description and quantity. Many of these samples including toys and electrical appliances are tested in our own laboratories.

We advise Fife businesses on how to comply with legislation and actively promote the Home Authority Principle.

We visit traders following the receipt of complaints or information regarding an alleged breach of trading laws.

Counterfeiting

Fife Council's Trading Standards enforcement staff regularly attend the various markets and events that take place throughout the year. They vary in size from well-attended annual events such as the St Andrews Lammas Market in August, to small, local car boot sales held in car parks.

Regrettably, many temporary markets and sales have become an attractive venue for sellers of counterfeit and pirated goods. Trading Standards Officers have become very proficient at detecting illegal merchandise and will use their powers to seize the offending goods and have the owner prosecuted.

Counterfeit goods are those which are manufactured using trade marks, trade names or other devices, to make the goods look like genuinely produced, popular branded goods. Generally, the products counterfeited are sports and leisurewear, watches, videos, DVD's, CD's and computer games.

Counterfeiting causes harm in several ways:

• The buyer is misled into buying inferior goods, poor quality garments, or badly reproduced videos or CD's;
• Retailers selling genuine goods lose out to those selling cheaper copies;
• Manufacturers lose sales of their genuine products, and
• Manufacturers reputations are damaged when poor quality counterfeits are mistaken for the genuine article.

Weights and Measures

We routinely test weighing and measuring equipment used for trade to ensure its accuracy.

We carry out tests on production lines of pre-packed foods to check that the quantity declared on the packs is correct.

We check-weigh goods, such as whisky, bread and coal, to ensure the declared quantity has been supplied.

We operate a UKAS accredited calibration service.

If you require specific advice on any of these issues, you can contact us directly for free advice. Tel: 08451 55 55 56. Email: cds_TS@fife.gov.uk. Alternatively, you can complete our on-line enquiry form.

Animal Health and Welfare

The role of a Local Authority Animal Health Officer involves the implementation of the Animal Health Act 1981 and the many 'Orders' made thereunder, for example:

The Pigs (Records, Identification and Movement) Order 1995;
The Sheep Scab Order 1997;
The Welfare of Animals (Transport) Order 1997;
The Animal By-Products (Scotland) Order 2003; and
The Cattle Identification Regulations 1998.

The main aim of the service is the effective prevention, control and eradication of injury and disease in farmed animals.

This Service is also responsible for the registration of farms, where animal feeding stuffs are mixed, under The Feeding Stuffs (Establishment & Intermediaries) Regulations 1998. More information on registration is available here. In some circumstances a sampling service may also be provided to farmers who purchase fertilisers and feeding stuffs, which they suspect may not be of the described standard.

For further information on Animal Health and Welfare, telephone 08451 55 55 56. Email: cds_TS@fife.gov.uk.

Consumer Credit

Do you know what an APR is?

You are a credit dealer.

If you require specific advice on consumer credit you can contact us directly for free advice. Tel: 08451 55 55 56. Email: cds_TS@fife.gov.uk.

Safety

We are responsible for the enforcement in Fife of laws relating to the safety of consumer goods.

We carry out this enforcement in a number of ways:

• We take samples of goods, such as toys or household chemicals, and test these to make sure they comply with safety regulations.
• We inspect items in shops to make sure they are labelled with relevant safety marks and warnings.
• We publicise the safety of goods, such as toys or fireworks by displays, leaflets and press releases.
• We investigate consumer complaints which relate to the safety of goods.
• We advise businesses on how to comply with the law.

We also:

• Licence all petrol filling stations and stores.
• Register sellers of poisons.
• Register all explosives stores such as fireworks sellers.

If you require specific information on any of these issues, you can contact us directly for free advice. Tel: 08451 55 55 56. Email: cds_TS@fife.gov.uk.

Want to know more?

Numerous free advice and information leaflets and booklets are available for Fife consumers, traders, schools, community and business organisations. Order copies here for business or consumer.

We regularly provide talks and exhibitions around Fife. If your organisation would like a talk on the work of the Service, please contact Janice Russell, Fair Trading Officer. Tel: 08451 55 55 56. Email: janice.russell@fife.gov.uk.

A Career in Trading Standards

The Trading Standards Institute has launched a dedicated website for those contemplating a career in Trading Standards – visit www.tscareers.org.uk.

Fife Council, Environmental Services, Trading Standards, Kingdom House, Kingdom Avenue, Glenrothes, KY7 5LY
Telephone: 08451 55 55 56.
Electronic Mail:  cds_TS@fife.gov.uk
Internet World Wide Web:  http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/fife

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