What Trading Standards does
Enforces consumer protection legislation including food labelling, weights and measures, product safety, and fair trading. Part of local authority structure. Investigates food labelling breaches.
Contact via local council. National body: Chartered Trading Standards Institute.
Contact Trading Standards
Legal framework
Legislation that Trading Standards directly enforces.
Primary legislation
Trade Descriptions Act 1968
Hallmarking Act 1973
Prices Act 1974
Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977
Estate Agents Act 1979
Weights and Measures (NI) Order 1981
Video Recordings Act 1984
Weights and Measures Act 1985
Consumer Protection Act 1987
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
Food Safety Act 1990
Trade Marks Act 1994
Knives Act 1997
Enterprise Act 2002
Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002
Licensing Act 2003
Animal Welfare Act 2006
Fraud Act 2006
Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008
Sunbeds (Regulation) Act 2010
Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013
Consumer Rights Act 2015
Offensive Weapons Act 2019
Tenant Fees Act 2019
Building Safety Act 2022
Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022
Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025
Secondary legislation
Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999
Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002
Fireworks Regulations 2004
Price Marking Order 2004
General Product Safety Regulations 2005
Weights and Measures (Packaged Goods) Regulations 2006
Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008
Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008
Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011
Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012
… and 13 more statutory instruments.