Government to set up new body for recalls and product safety in victory for The Sun
The Government has listened to our calls for body to protect people from faulty goods
THE government is to set up a new body to help protect people from faulty goods and recalls – in a victory for The Sun.
Ministers have listened to our demand to increase protection for consumers from unsafe products.
The new Office for Product Safety and Standards bolstered by a £12million a year budget, will be responsible for identifying and managing the reaction by manufacturers to unsafe products.
It will also work with local authority Trading Standards teams as well as helping to protect businesses from unfair competition posed by rogue firms.
Hundreds of different electrical gadgets and appliances are recalled every year.
Manufacturers rely on customers registering their details when they buy an item. If they don’t, then it’s hard to tell customers about safety issues.
Last week, the government’s was slammed for its “painfully slow” response to improving product safety by a cross-party Commons Committee.
It is off the back of a review in to faulty electrical goods sparked by the modification of over 4 million Whirlpool tumble dryers, of which, only 1.9 million have been fixed or replaced.
Around 1.7 tumble dryers have been fixed or replaced since 2015 but that still leaves millions of machines have not been registered and could still be in use.
In February last year Whirlpool backtracked on the advice to tell customers they should not use the appliances until AFTER they had been fixed.
MPs have now demanded that Whirlpool speed up its response time and that the government set up a new body for product safety.
Consumer group Which?, The London Fire Brigade and safety experts at Electrical Safety First have all urged the government to fix the UK’s broken safety recall system.
Today’s announcement comes seven months after a faulty Hotpoint fridge sparked a fire causing a deadly blaze at Grenfell tower, killing 79 people.
Last week, we pointed out that it had been two years since an official review of the recall system by Lynn Faulds Woods called for a body to protect consumers.
The new group will only cover consumer products and not food or vehicles.
Business Minister Andrew Griffiths said: “The new Office for Product Safety and Standards will strengthen the UK’s already tough product safety regime and will allow consumers to continue to buy, secure in the knowledge there is an effective system in place if products need to be repaired or replaced.”
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Alex Neill, managing director of Which? Home Products and Services, said: “The Government has finally accepted that the UK’s product safety system needs to be fixed, but this action falls short of the full overhaul it so desperately needs.
“Consumers need an independent national body which has real powers to protect them and get dangerous products out of their homes. Failure to do so continues the risk of further tragic consequences.”
Lynn Faulds Woods, said: “My central recommendation was for an independent body, supported by government.
“I really welcome the fact that they are doing something about it and I’d like to be involved in shaping its future.”
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