National regulation: enforcement services
How the Office for Product Safety and Standards contributes to the national regulatory landscape.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) provides enforcement services for a range of goods-based and standards-based regulations. OPSS is the policy owner for some of these regulations but also provides services on behalf of government departments including DBT, Defra and DfT.
We are working towards providing a regulatory environment in which businesses have the confidence to invest and grow and citizens and communities are properly protected. We do this by taking a risk-based and proportionate approach to our enforcement activities and by operating under the The Regulators’ Code.
What we enforce
OPSS is the national regulator for consumer product safety (other than in relation to vehicles, medicines and food), working with local authorities, other market surveillance authorities and border control authorities.
Find out more about how to comply with product safety law.
Guidance on complying with the following areas of legislation can be found via these links:
- Access and benefit sharing of genetic resources (Nagoya Protocol)
- Alternative fuel labelling regulations
- Alternative fuels infrastructure regulations
- Batteries and accumulators (placing on the market) regulations
- Construction products
- Consumer connectable product security
- Ecodesign of energy related products regulations
- Electric vehicle smart charge points regulations
- End of life vehicles regulations
- Energy information regulations
- Heat network metering and billing regulations
- Noise emission in the environment by equipment for use outdoors regulations
- Public charge points regulations
- RoHS regulations
- Timber regulations
- Waste batteries regulations
- Weights and measures
- WEEE regulations
Guidance for businesses we regulate
These documents:
- define what you can expect from us
- set out our approach to addressing non-compliance and potential product safety risks
- detail the specific enforcement actions available to us under certain regulations
- explain how you can complain or comment about our service
- clarify your statutory and non-statutory rights to challenge or appeal our regulatory actions or decisions
OPSS enforcement: service standards
OPSS enforcement: enforcement policy
OPSS enforcement: guidance on enforcement actions and associated rights
OPSS enforcement: challenges and appeals guidance
Non-qualifying regulatory provisions
The Regulatory Policy Committee has confirmed that none of the measures or activities of OPSS presented in the following summaries should be considered as qualifying regulatory provisions for the purposes of the Business Impact Target.
Contact us
If you have a specific enquiry about compliance or wish to contact us regarding suspected non-compliance please email OPSS.enquiries@businessandtrade.gov.uk.
Alternatively you can contact our helpdesk on 0121 345 1201.
Or in writing to:
Office for Product Safety and Standards
4th Floor Cannon House
18 The Priory Queensway
Birmingham
B4 6BS
United Kingdom
Updates to this page
Last updated 6 January 2023 + show all updates
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Summary of non-qualifying regulatory provisions under the Business Impact Target for 17 December 2021 to 16 December 2022 added.
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Summary of non-qualifying regulatory provisions under the Business Impact Target for 17 December 2020 to 16 December 2021 added.
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Enforcement services summary leaflet added.
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Four documents added on Regulatory Delivery's approach to business regulation: our service standards, enforcement policy, complaints policy, and challenges and appeals guidance.
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First published.