Trading Standards Service

What Trading Standards Service does

The Northern Ireland Trading Standards Service is committed to providing a fair and impartial service.

At times the law requires us to tell you what you must and must not do. However we prefer to secure compliance through advice and help. We aim to provide a high-quality service to the Northern Ireland business community.

For business advice regarding Trading Standards legislation, you should visit Consumer rights and protection - nibusinessinfo.

If you need further advice, or if you want to discuss a specific issue, please contact us on 0300 123 6262, or e-mail tss@economy-ni.gov.uk

The main areas we deal with

The Trading Standards Service is responsible for enforcing over 160 pieces of legislation, covering a wide breadth of sectors and practices. The main areas we deal with are:

• weights and measures - to ensure that all goods sold by weight, volume, length or area are accurately measured
• scams and e-crime – ensuring that the most vulnerable in society are protected from the most unscrupulous and fraudulent practices
• doorstep crime and home improvement services – unscrupulous traders cold calling at your door and claiming that work needs doing to your home or garden unnecessarily. Poor workmanship and overcharging in respect of home improvement services.
• pricing – price marking and misleading price indications - it is illegal for a trader to give consumers price indications which are misleading or to make price comparisons which are not genuine, fair and meaningful. In general, traders must display the price of all goods which they offer for sale. Also, large shops must show the unit price of goods which are prepacked in fixed quantities
• false or misleading descriptions of goods and services - to ensure that goods and services are accurately described when they are offered for sale
• counterfeit goods - the Northern Ireland Trading Standards Service is responsible for enforcing the Trade Marks Act 1994, which prohibits the unauthorised use of trademarks as well as the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
• used cars - misleading claims about the history of second-hand vehicles i.e. clocked cars, accident damage, specification.
• hallmarking of precious metals - most gold, silver and platinum jewellery must be hallmarked by one of the Assay Offices
• consumer credit - Traders who offer credit to consumers must comply with the appropriate regulations
• estate agency and the misdescription of property - to ensure that estate agents act in the best interests of their clients, and that both buyers and sellers are treated honestly, fairly and promptly
• unfair contract terms – contract terms are not binding on consumers unless they are fair.
• travel - legislation controls the sale of timeshare, while package travel regulations seek to protect consumers in the event of holiday companies ceasing to trade
• most complained about traders - businesses which persistently trade unfairly - the Northern Ireland Trading Standards Service investigates complaints about illegal trading practices and trading standard laws.

What we can't do

Investigate every complaint we receive

We are not able to investigate or take action on all matters reported to us. Limited resources make it essential for us to prioritise, tackling the issues which cause the most detriment to Northern Ireland businesses and consumers:

• Trading Standards Service - prioritisation principles

The Trading Standards Service provides consumer advice via Consumerline, its consumer advice helpline. Consumerline answers all consumer complaints and business enquiries on behalf of the Trading Standards Service in Northern Ireland. We continue to receive records of each omplaint dealt with by Consumerline as this allows us to monitor arising issues and intervene in cases that meet our ‘priority’ criteria.

If you need consumer advice or would like to report an issue, or your business is in dispute with a consumer and you need some advice, you should contact Consumerline on 0300 123 62 62, 9am to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 9am to 4pm on a Friday, or use the online form:

• Consumerline on nidirect website 

Obtain redress on your behalf

Consumerline can provide you with comprehensive, professional advice on your rights and how to obtain appropriate redress. If the business is not co-operative, then in some cases it may require you to take the matter to a civil court. We are not able to obtain redress on your behalf and we are not able to pursue cases in the civil courts for you.

Provide feedback on what you have reported to us

After you have reported a matter to Consumerline we will only make contact with you if we need further information or cooperation. We will only provide feedback if formal action has been taken to deal with the matter you reported – such as the case being taken to court. Even if Trading Standards doesn't contact you, we might use your evidence to take action against the business in the future. For example, if other people make complaints about the same business. 

Trading Standards will endeavour to keep you up to date with what is happening but it is not always possible to do this. This is not because we don’t want to tell you about the outcome of case, it is because the law, in most cases, does not allow us to do this or it may interfere with our operations activities.

What we can do

Every year we receive thousands of consumer complaints through Consumerline and from other agencies. Resource constraints mean we have to prioritise the most serious cases for intervention and use the others to help us to plan our prevention work. A number of factors are used to determine how we prioritise each case:

• Trading Standards Service - prioritisation principles.

We have a wide range of options available to us in terms of intervention, from writing to a business to advise them of their legal obligations, issuing Cautions and seeking injunctions to full prosecution. We have a duty to ensure in every case that the action taken is proportionate to the matter we are tackling. When we investigate a matter we must be sure that there is enough evidence to use in court and that the investigation would be in the public interest.

We can provide advice to businesses, helping them to comply with the law, and also carry out inspections to ensure wider legal compliance. We use risk rating and intelligence to determine which businesses we inspect.  

We will use our statutory enforcement powers to increase compliance with consumer protection law, and take enforcement action where appropriate, in line with our priorities. 

To achieve this aim we will undertake the following:

• identify and investigate potential breaches of the law and take appropriate compliance and enforcement actions
• amplify all compliance and enforcement outcomes to raise awareness of the law
• develop a programme of business-focussed compliance activities aimed at increasing knowledge of consumer protection law.
• work closely with enforcement agencies including PSNI, district councils, Competition and Markets Authority, Financial Conduct Authority, Public Prosecution Service and HMRC
• continuously improve the way we work in light of lessons learned from all enforcement activities
• commit to transparency in our compliance and enforcement activities, providing advice on legislation and explaining the basis for our decisions
• raise awareness to encourage complaints that will lead to potential enforcement actions
• continuously assess all our investigative and enforcement procedures to ensure ongoing adherence to best practice and legal requirements.

Trading Standards enforcement

Informal action – advice

Minor infringements are generally dealt with by means of informal action and would involve the officer drawing the matter to the attention of the individual or to the owner of the business or to an appropriate employee, and giving appropriate guidance. Where appropriate, a report will be left at the time of the visit or contained within a written letter of advice or warning. Rarely will a minor or technical infringement result in more formal action being taken, particularly if it is capable of immediate rectification. A follow-up visit will usually be made, where circumstances demand, to ensure minor matters have been rectified. However, if previous advice has been ignored, or if there is another factor that warrants a formal response, TSS may choose to treat the incident in a formal way.

Formal action – Statutory Notice

Depending on the powers of the officer under the applicable legislation, and the remedy that best protects the public from harm, the officer may issue a statutory notice requiring that certain actions should be carried out within a given timescale. It is the responsibility of the recipient to comply with the notice. Failure to do so may result in legal action being taken e.g. pricing or metrology breaches.

Formal action – investigation, warning, caution and prosecution

In other cases we will conduct an investigation in order to decide the appropriate course of action.

We give suspected offenders the opportunity to give an explanation of the circumstances surrounding the commission of any alleged offence including, where provided for by the legislation, of any statutory defences. Officers may decide to do this by inviting the suspect to attend a formal interview.

Any formal interview about offences will be conducted having regard to the Codes issued under the Police and Criminal Evidence (NI) Order 1989 (PACE) and an appropriate record will be made. Suspected offenders will be given the opportunity to seek legal advice prior to such an interview taking place and may be accompanied by a legal representative at the interview itself.

Calibration services

UKAS Accredited Mass Calibration Service

We operate a United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) accredited laboratory to ISO 17025 and can accommodate the calibration of F1, F2 and M1 weights across a range of 1 mg to 25 kg mass values. The service includes the provision of a UKAS certificate providing traceability of measurement to the SI system of units and/or UK National Standards.

To find out more information, please see UKAS accredited Mass Calibration Service.

Metrology Services

Our Weights and Measures Inspectors and Metrology Team provide a measurement service across Northern Ireland including testing and verification of weights, weighing equipment, and measuring equipment for mass, volume and length. We also hire out equipment for the testing of weights and measures equipment.

To find out more information please see Trading Standards Service NI - Metrology Services

Contact

Telephone: 0300 123 62 62

For calibration services, email: calibration@economy-ni.gov.uk

Our Enforcement Policy

This Enforcement Policy has been published in order to explain what happens when we find infringements of Trading Standards law.  It has also been designed to help promote an efficient and effective approach to enforcement, - one that will improve regulatory outcomes without imposing unnecessary burdens on businesses.  This is in accordance with the good practice principles set out in the Enforcement Concordat and the Regulator’s Compliance Code.

• Trading Standards Service enforcement policy

Make a complaint against us

The DfE complaints procedure explains how you can make a complaint regarding the quality of our services, what standards you can expect when you do so, and what you can do if you are still dissatisfied.