A fair and safe trading environment is the overriding principle both for business dealings and consumer protection.
The emerging public health agenda is an example of this. Whether it’s an increasing concern with food standards (salt, sugar, preservatives and so on) or the state of farm products and animal welfare, trading standards departments have a key role to pay. Outbreaks of BSE and foot and mouth have left deep scars on consumers and businesses alike and the role of trading standards in their prevention is widely recognised.
By working closely with businesses, trading standards professionals seek to create a better trading environment. Businesses and consumers may also be brought together through direct contact and through consumer bodies. The Fair Trade Charter, for instance, which some councils have adopted and which many car dealers and garages (in new and used cars) have signed up to, has done an enormous amount to regulate trade in the retail motor industry. It’s designed as a partnership between local authorities and businesses to demonstrate a higher commitment to fair and honest trading.
In order to ensure fair trading conditions, trading standards professionals will also check out:
- misleading advertising and labelling e.g. waterproof watches that ‘drown’ on contact with the water
- contracts negotiated on the doorstop, by post, cold-calling or on-line
- misleading consumer credit agreements
- even package travel holidays from hell
As they monitor these and other business transactions, both large and small, trading standards professionals (TSPs) make a huge contribution to keeping the trading environment legal and safe. Even if it takes ‘stings’ with undercover surveillance cameras or formal inspections to catch a villain, TSPs will do it!
For case studies showing what this means in practice click here.
Click here for consumers
Click here for business
