The government’s new Office for Product Safety and Standards has teamed up with BSI, the UK’s national standards body, to launch the first government-backed Code of Practice (PAS 7100) for product safety recall in the UK.
The Code of Practice includes details on how a business can monitor the safety of products and plan for a recall, and how market surveillance authorities such as local authority trading standards can support businesses in their monitoring of incidents and their implementation of corrective action.
The Code of Practice, developed by BSI, is the first major initiative for the new Office, which was launched by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in January. It follows a recommendation by the Working Group on Products Recalls and Safety to introduce such a code to further strengthen the UK’s already tough product safety regime.
This was created with the assistance of leading retailers, consumer interest groups and industry bodies, including; Tesco, Samsung Electronics, British Retail Consortium, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and the Association of Chief Trading Standards Officers.
The Code of Practice comes in two parts. The first is focused on non-food consumer products and is intended for use by manufacturers, importers and distributors. It provides details on:
- how a business can plan for a recall, including establishing mechanisms to deal with any product safety issue identified
- managing a possible safety related product recall or other corrective action
- establishing mechanisms to monitor the safety of products
- investigating any potential product safety issue
- reviewing corrective action programmes to ensure that product safety responsibilities continue to be met
The second is aimed at regulators, specifically market surveillance authorities including local authority trading standards. It details how they can carry out their role in ensuring businesses meet their responsibilities in respect of consumer product safety issues by:
- monitoring incidents and analysing data
- supporting businesses in the preparation of their ‘product safety incident plan’ (PSIP)
- supporting businesses in their monitoring of incidents and their implementation of appropriate corrective action
