Consumer Protection

Environmental Health Officers carry out the function of Consumer Safety (Consumer Protection) on behalf of the Council.

The purpose of Consumer Protection legislation is to protect consumers against the supply of dangerous goods.

The Role of Environmental Health

In fulfilling the core function of Consumer Protection, Environmental Health Officers have a duty to undertake the following:

• Carry out planned inspections of premises that supply consumer products
• Inspect products to check that they are safe
• Investigate complaints about dangerous products
• Offer advice to businesses to make sure they supply safe products
• Give advice on how to avoid selling tobacco and cigarette lighter refills to people who are not old enough to buy them
• Carry out checks to make sure businesses are not selling products to people who are not old enough to buy them
• Check that products used in building meet legal standards
• Take legal action if necessary to make ensure compliance with consumer safety legislation

Every day of our lives we consume, use or simply come into contact with many different products. We should be able to assume that those products are safe. The responsibility to supply safe consumer goods applies all the way down from the manufacturer to the retailer. This means, that products being sold should comply with any relevant legislation or recognised safety standard. Furthermore, consumer protection extends to protecting against Volatile Substance Abuse (VSA) and the underage sale of tobacco products. This is explained later in more detail.

What is 'safe'?

A product is safe if it carries no risk (or almost no risk) to consumers when they use the product in a normal way.

The Legislation

The main pieces of legislation dealing with the safety of consumer goods are: -

• The Consumer Protection Act 1987
• The General Product Safety Regulations 2005

Additional legislation

In addition to the 2 pieces of legislation above, there are over 60 specific regulations and 100s of recognised safety standards covering product safety. These include some of the following, just click on a link for more information:-

• Safe;
• Made in line with the principles of good engineering practice;
• Marked with the CE symbol;
• Produced and sold with the European Community safety objectives which include:
• Having a brand name or trademark
• Instructions for using the product safely, and
• Being able to assemble the product safely

It is against the law to sell electrical equipment without a plug. All household appliances must be fitted with a standard three-pin plug (approved by the Association of Short-circuit Testing Authorities British Electrical Approvals Board (ASTA BEAB), or British Standards Institute (BSI) and this should be marked on the plug.

A toy is defined as any product that is designed or clearly intended for a child of under 14 years of age to use.

Toys must NOT:

• Have small parts that can be easily taken off and which might cause a child to choke, for example buttons or eyes. Toys that have small parts and are not suitable for children under 3 years of age must carry an age suitability and danger warning.
• Be Flammable, i.e. easily set on fire
• Have sharp edges or points that could physically harm a child,
• Contain poisonous substances such as lead paint.

All new toys must be marked with the name and address of the manufacturer or importer and the CE Marking. This information must either be on the toy or it's packaging and should be easy to read. On small toys the information may be on a label attached to the toy, a leaflet belonging to the toy or on the toy's display box.

Why do certain toys need warnings or instructions?

Some toys must come with warnings and instructions about precautions that need to be taken for the toy to be used safely. For example:

The Lion Mark was developed in 1988 by the British Toy & Hobby Association as a symbol of toy safety and quality for the consumer. The Lion Mark may only be used by BTHA members.

BTHA Members include many major international and European companies.

NEW and SECONDHAND upholstered furniture supplied by any business must meet certain fire safety requirements. Upholstered furniture includes sofas, mattresses and beds, cushions, nursery furniture, garden furniture etc, however does not cover sleeping bag, duvets and bedding and curtains.

• All furniture must pass the CIGARETTE TEST
• Filling materials must be FIRE RESISTANT
Covers must pass the MATCH TEST

It is an offence to supply upholstered without a permanent label. Examples of such labels are shown below.

To ensure that you are buying furniture that complies with the relevant regulations look for the following display labels that should be attached to furniture placed on display.

Remember, if you give a piece of furniture away it is still classed as supply and must meet the requirements mentioned above.

Children's nightwear must be treated for fire safety in line with BS 5722. Children's nightwear is:

• Nightdresses, if the chest measurement is less that 91cm, or the length is less than 122cm; and
• Dressing gowns and bath robes (excluding terry towelling) if the chest measurement is less than 97cm or the sleeve measurement is less than 69cm.

Other nightwear must have a label stating whether it meets fire safety requirements or not. Pyjama's and babies' clothes are not considered as children's nightwear.

Children's nightwear does not have to be labelled, however other nightwear should be labelled as follows:

• Nightwear that does not meet fire-safety requirements - 'Keep away from fire'
• Nightwear that does not meet fire-safety requirements - 'Low flammability to BS 5722' Nightwear treated with flame resistant chemicals must also have the following label:
• 'Do not wash at more than 50oC. Check suitability of washing agent'.

Children's Clothing with Hood Cords

Children's outer clothing e.g. coats and jumpers which measures 44cm or less across the chest fastened MUST NOT have a hood which is designed to be secured by a cord which passes through the fabric. If such clothing does have a hood cord, it must be secured so that it cannot be pulled through.

By law all partly worn tyres must meet a standard. Tyres are vital for road safety and must NOT have:

• Any lump, bulge or tear, on the inside or outside of the tyre cause by its structure separating;
• Any ply or cord exposed on the inside or outside of the tyre;
• Any cut on the inside of the tyre over 25mm or 10% of the width of the tyre, whichever is greater. The cut must not be deep enough to reach the ply or cord.

Tyres should be in such condition that the base of any groove that showed in the original tread pattern of the tyre is clearly visible and the grooves of the original tread pattern must be at least 2mm deep across the full width of the tread around the entire outside of the tyre.

Partly worn tyres should have a European Community approval mark and a speed and load capacity index moulded into the side wall when they are made. In addition all partly worn tyres must be marked 'PART-WORN' in upper-case letters at least 4mm high.

These are any substances that are intended to come into direct contact with the skin, hair, nails, lips or teeth to clean them, perfume them, protect them, change their appearance, keep them in good condition or treat body odour.

Cosmetics:

• Should not damage someones health if used in a normal reasonable way;
• Must be labelled with the following information:
• List of cosmetic information in order of weight, starting with the heaviest
• Name and address of manufacturer
• 'Best before' date (if needed)
• Any restrictions/precautions for using the product
• A batch number for traceability
• A description of the product if it is not obvious

Cosmetic products made after 30 June 2000 must not be tested on animals.

These products cannot be legally sold to people under 18 YEARS OLD. At the point of sale of such products a notice must be displayed stating the following :

In addition cigarette lighter refills cannot be legally sold to anyone under the age of 18 years old.

Volatile Substance abuse (VSA) is the deliberate inhalation of a volatile substance to achieve a change in mental state. The effects of VSA include:

• Drunk like feeling
• Irritability
• Impaired judgement
• Erratic behaviour
• Aggressive and violent behaviour
• Excitement, euphoria, exhilaration,
• Unconsciousness
• Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome

Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome

Severe cardiac arrhythmia, resulting from light plane anaesthesia, intensified by hypercapnia or stress or activity or a combination of these……"

Bass, M. (1970) Sudden Sniffing Death. J.Am.Med.Assn. 212(12), 2075-2079.

VSA and the Law

• It is illegal to sell solvents such as cigarette lighter refill canisters containing butane to any person under the age of 18 years.
• Businesses must take responsible steps to make sure a young customer is 18 years of age or over e.g. ask for identification. If unsure, refuse sale.
• The law forbids all cigarette lighter refill sales to children, even if they are for parents.
• It should also be noted that it is already an offence under the Intoxicating Substance (Supply) Act 1985 to supply any substance to a person under 18 years of age knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the substance, or its fumes are likely to be inhaled for the purposes of causing intoxication e.g aerosol sprays, and certain sorts of glue.

I think I have been sold an unsafe product. Where do I get more information?

You can contact your local Environmental Health department.

If you bought the item in the borough of Castlereagh, you can contact us on 028 90494640 or email environmentalhealth@castlereagh.gov.uk

If you bought the item outside the borough of Castlereagh you can contact the appropriate District Council and speak to them directly, or you can contact us and we can forward the details of your query.

Useful Links:

Smoking and the law

Advice on Solvent Abuse

Smoking Cessation

Underage Sales

Toy Safety Factsheet

General

Useful Documents