Fair trading
Our aims are to protect both consumers and honest traders, by
enforcing a wide range of consumer protection legislation. These
laws relate to standards of quantity, quality, safety, pricing,
consumer credit and animal health and welfare.
We make sure that people get a 'fair deal' by enforcing pricing
and credit laws, investigating misleading price indications and
fraudulent trading practices, and ensuring the accuracy of goods,
services and property descriptions.
We operate a Consumer Helpline to provide clear impartial advice
to consumers and businesses on their rights and obligations when
buying and selling goods and services.
Officers visit and inspect premises to ensure that current
legislation is being met. We buy samples of products for
testing and we give advice to consumers and businesses in relation
to the laws enforced by us. We receive information from many
sources and we carry out investigations into fraudulent trading
practices and serious breaches of legislation.
Report a Loan shark
Loan sharks are illegal moneylenders who often charge very high
interest rates - check if a company is licensed and how to report
one that isn’t.
If you spot a loan shark, or have borrowed money from one, you
can report them anonymously using this link Report a Loan shark
Business advice
Fair trading legislation is very diverse and
to help businesses comply we have a range of advisory leaflets.
Follow this link to view the information.
There is also a new website that can be
used.
ERWIN (Everything Regulation, Whenever It’s Needed), is the
national one-stop web site for all your Trading Standards business
related information. Guidance on all aspects of Trading Standards
issues can be found here and with links to a number of relevant
resources on the web, ERWIN ensures that you can find all the
information you need. The site provides interpreted, simplified and
prioritised information, which covers all major Trading Standards
legislation.
Let ERWIN do the hard work for you. Simply choose your business
type and receive tailored advice or enter a keyword in the document
search. To access this website go to http://www.everythingregulation.org.uk/
Businesses seeking advice should call on
0845 600 6400 and they will be put through to the appropriate
area team.
Consumer advice
We also have a range of leaflets for consumers which you can access
by clicking here.
Consumers with problems concerning goods or
services they have bought should in the first instance contact
Citizens Advice consumer service on 08454 040506.
You can also use this line to report concerns about under age
sales of restricted goods to children
