Retail & Consumer Goods

Ensure product safety compliance for retailers

Product safety compliance checklist for retailers. Covers supplier vetting, safety marking verification, recall procedures, OPSS reporting, and preparation for the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025.

EnglandScotlandWales

Use this checklist to verify your product safety arrangements meet current legal requirements. Retailers are responsible for ensuring products they sell are safe, even if they did not manufacture them. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) enforces product safety law and can seize unsafe products, issue fines of up to £20,000 under the GPSR 2005, and prosecute retailers (some sector-specific product regulations carry unlimited fines).

Supplier vetting

Safety marking and documentation

Product recall procedures

Record keeping and traceability

Preparing for the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025

The PRMA 2025 is an enabling Act that will update the UK product safety framework through secondary legislation. While detailed regulations are pending, retailers should prepare for new obligations, particularly around online marketplace duties and supply chain traceability.

PRMA 2025 preparation

Official guidance