Product safety penalties and enforcement

This reference summarises the penalties, enforcement powers, and sanctions that apply to product safety breaches in Great Britain. Use it to understand what regulators can do and what consequences your business faces for non-compliance.

Product Safety Enforcement Notices

Types of enforcement notices that Trading Standards and OPSS can issue to require action on unsafe products under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005.

Trading Standards and OPSS have powers under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 to issue enforcement notices requiring businesses to take action on unsafe products. These notices have legal force and non-compliance is an offence.

Suspension notice (Regulation 11): Prohibits supply of a product for up to 6 months while safety is investigated. Can be renewed.
Requirement to mark (Regulation 12): Requires product to be marked with appropriate warnings about risks it presents
Requirement to warn (Regulation 13): Requires warnings to be published to alert persons who have been supplied with a dangerous product
Withdrawal notice (Regulation 14): Requires withdrawal of a dangerous product from the market and may require informing consumers who have been supplied
Recall notice (Regulation 15): Requires organising return of the product from consumers. Business must use reasonable endeavours to retrieve products.
Forfeiture order: Court can order dangerous products to be destroyed or disposed of

Costs and appeals

Businesses subject to enforcement notices bear the costs of compliance. However, there is a right to appeal against notices to a Magistrates' Court within 21 days.

Cost responsibility: Business bears the cost of complying with enforcement notices
Appeal right: Appeal to Magistrates' Court within 21 days of notice being served
Compensation: No right to compensation for losses caused by compliance with notices unless enforcement authority acted unreasonably

GPSR 2005: conviction on indictment: Unlimited fine and/or up to 12 months' imprisonment
GPSR 2005: summary conviction: Unlimited fine and/or up to 3 months' imprisonment
CPA 1987 Part II: conviction on indictment: Unlimited fine and/or up to 2 years' imprisonment
CPA 1987 Part II: summary conviction: Unlimited fine and/or up to 6 months' imprisonment
CPA 1987 s.12: supplying unsafe goods: Criminal offence - same penalties as Part II general offences
Obstruction of enforcement officer: Unlimited fine (summary conviction)
PRMA 2025: civil penalties (pending): Monetary penalties as alternative to prosecution - amounts to be set by secondary legislation (expected 2026)

Civil penalties under PRMA 2025

The Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 gives the Secretary of State power to introduce civil monetary penalties for product safety breaches through secondary legislation. These will sit alongside existing criminal sanctions, giving enforcement bodies a faster, more proportionate tool for non-compliance that does not meet the threshold for criminal prosecution.

The amounts, procedures, and appeals process for civil penalties will be set out in regulations. Consultations on the secondary legislation are expected from 2026. Monitor GOV.UK for announcements.

For a full explanation of the legal framework, see Understanding UK product safety law. For defences available when facing prosecution, see Product liability and insurance.

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Product safety penalties and enforcement

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