About us
Our primary purpose is to protect people and places from product-related harm, ensuring consumers and businesses can buy and sell products with confidence.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is the UK’s national product regulator, within the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). Our primary purpose is to protect people and places from product-related harm, enabling trade and growth by ensuring consumers and businesses can buy and sell products with confidence.
OPSS was created in January 2018. We are responsible for the regulation of most consumer goods excluding food, medicines, and vehicles.
We apply regulations across the product lifecycle from design, accreditation and manufacture through to labelling, supply, end use and safe disposal. Our policy responsibilities cover product safety, legal metrology (weights and measures), standards and accreditation, hallmarking, and Primary Authority.
We are the enforcement authority for a range of product regulations where other government departments hold policy responsibility, extending to construction products for MHCLG, energy standards for DESNZ, environmental regulations for Defra, and consumer connectable product security for DSIT. We also work with FCDO in partner countries to support the development of regulatory environments that enable international trade.
We are part of a wider regulatory system. We deliver our objectives through influence, information, and the right systems and relationships, using engagement networks to bring in the views of businesses, consumers and other stakeholders.
Corporate information
Access our information
- Complaints procedure
- Our governance
- Research at Office for Product Safety and Standards
- Statistics at Office for Product Safety and Standards