Brief details on the roles of, and links to, the other main UK market surveillance authorities are provided so that questions and complaints about products can be directed to the relevant authority.
What do market surveillance authorities do?
Market surveillance authorities (MSAs) monitor and enforce the requirements of product safety law, using the powers and enforcement tools provided by UK law. Different authorities enforce different aspects of product safety legislation. For example, HSE deals with product safety for machines used at work but the safety of machines used by consumers is dealt with by trading standards. This is summarised in the table below, together with links to each authority's relevant web page.
In some cases, products may be in the cross-over area between consumer and work usage (eg some hand-held power tools and machinery for ground maintenance, such as mowers and chainsaws). In these cases, the authorities will communicate and agree who has the lead in any particular situation, as necessary.
Some product safety legislation may not be directly connected with the health and safety of users but environmental (such as noise and pollution from engines), or concerned with adverse interaction between products that may affect function (eg electromagnetic interference). However, the common feature is that all product safety legislation concerns the design and construction of new products. The potential interactions between product safety legislation means that UK MSAs need to communicate and co-operate with each other.
Who is the relevant authority for your product?
- Health and Safety Executive - Reporting a health and safety issue (HSE) or in Northern Ireland (HSENI): Most equipment used at work, including: machinery, electrical equipment, lifts, pressure systems, simple pressure vessels, explosives, substances under REACH, cableways, gas appliances and personal protective equipment (PPE) used at work. HSE are not the relevant authority for; construction products permanently incorporated into buildings, environmental noise, all issues of electromagnetic compatibility, or medical devices.
- Trading standards (local authority) - Find your local office: Most consumer products; toys; PPE used by consumers; construction products permanently incorporated into buildings; all issues of electromagnetic compatibility; radio and telecommunications equipment.
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA): Medicines and medical devices (even when machinery).
- Office of Rail and Road (ORR)
- Regulatory Delivery (RD): Various environmental aspects of new products by design, including: Outdoor Noise emissions (OND), Energy performance, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), and Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) in Electrical and Electronic Equipment.