Business Advice

Sale of Disposable Vapes To Be Banned 

The sale of disposable vapes will be banned in England from the 1 June 2025.

The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (England) Regulations 2024 SI 2024 No. 1216 have now been published. 

From 1 June 2025, it will be illegal for businesses to sell, offer to sell or have in their possession for sale all single-use or ‘disposable’ vapes. This applies to:

• sales online and in shops
• all vapes whether or not they contain nicotine 

If a vape is reusable, you’ll still be able sell it. 

To access our Enforcement guidance on the new legislation go to Guidance (pdf 317kb)  

For the national guidance go to: Gov.uk 

The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Amendment Regulations 2025

On the 22 January 2025 the Government announced that it will lay a statutory instrument to amend the 1988 Regulations as soon as parliamentary time allows. The immediate action taken to amend the 1988 Regulations will be:

• Removing certain baby products from scope to address concerns about exposure to chemical flame retardants of young children, without compromising fire safety.
• Removing the requirement to attach a display labelling to reduce burdens on businesses.
• Increasing the time limit for enforcement authorities to institute legal proceedings.

For further detail go to Gov.uk

Avian Flu 

Mandatory housing measures for poultry and captive birds, which were introduced across various counties to prevent the spread of bird flu, will be lifted from Thursday 15 May 2025.

The latest risk assessment supported by the best scientific evidence shows that the risk of avian influenza levels in wild birds and poultry has reduced. This means poultry and other captive birds will no longer need to be housed and can now be kept outside.

The lifting of housing measures applies to all areas unless keepers are in a Protection Zone or Captive Bird Monitoring (Controlled) Zone - these are areas where there has been a recent outbreak.

Scrupulous biosecurity is the best deterrent to stopping the spread of avian influenza. Birdkeepers are legally required to adhere to the highest biosecurity standards with an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) mandating strict biosecurity remaining in place in England, Scotland and Wales. This includes measures such as disinfecting footwear, clothing and vehicles and equipment before and after entering premises.

Bird gatherings, such as fairs and markets, remain banned.

Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024

The Act paves the way to give consumers rights across the UK, with greater control and clarity over online purchases.

It does this by requiring businesses to provide clearer information to consumers before they enter a subscription contract, remind consumers that their free trial or low-cost trial is coming to an end, and ensure consumers can easily exit a contract.

Unavoidable hidden fees will also need to be included in the initial cost or clearly illustrated at the start of the purchasing journey. This will ensure consumers are clear from the offset about what they’re spending.

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act will also give new tools to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to address the challenges to competition in digital markets.

These tools will allow the competition regulator to set tailored ‘conduct requirements’ which require a powerful tech company to change the way it operates if it is not treating users fairly. These rules could give consumers the room to freely choose the services they use, or stop companies from withholding information consumers need to make good decisions.  

The Act also gives the regulator powers to intervene and direct a firm to change its behaviour to boost competition – whether that is to benefit people using smartphones or businesses dependent on cloud services.  

The Act will also give new powers to the CMA to closely monitor road fuel prices and report any sign of malpractice to the government.

Only a handful of the most powerful global technology companies will be subject to these new rules if, following an investigation, they are deemed to hold ‘strategic market status’.  

If companies fail to comply with decisions made by the CMA, they could be subject to fines reaching tens of billions of pounds. These fines and other measures will be balanced by rigorous checks and balances.

CMA published its approach to direct consumer protection,

The full document can be found at  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-cmas-approach-to-direct-consumer-protection

The Approach

CMA plan to take to applying the new consumer protection regime under the DMCC Act in the first year. They will
• target clear infringements and conduct which is more harmful to consumers
• prioritise areas of essential spend for consumers
• carry out engagement and develop further accessible materials to help businesses
Early action will be focussed on more egregious practices where the law is clear, including:
• aggressive sales practices that prey on consumers in vulnerable positions;
• providing information to consumers that is objectively false (banned practices including those relating to fake reviews;
• fees that are hidden until late in the purchase process
• contract terms that are clearly imbalanced and unfair (including unfair exit charges)
Fake reviews
Guidance explains in more detail what is required. New provisions may require changes to systems. For the first 3 months, the focus will be on business support.
Drip pricing and section 230 of the DMCC Act:
Following consultation on guidance, CMA is taking a phased approach to the guidance.
In the Unfair Commercial Practices guidance, there is  a clear framework for complying with the parts of the law which are already clear and largely unchanged (e.g. The prohibition of unexpected and untrailed mandatory charges added on at the end of a purchasing journey).  CMA may take enforcement action on this type of drip pricing over the coming year.
However, for those aspects of the drip pricing guidance that have created more uncertainty (including fixed-term periodic contracts) there will be a further consultation and finalised guidance in the autumn. There will not be enforcement action on these aspects until after this.

Tobacco and Vapes Bill 

On the 5 November 2024 the Government introduced the Tobacco and Vapes Bill at Westminster.

The Bill aims to introduce a progressive smoking ban to gradually end the sale of tobacco products across the UK, so that anyone born on or after 1st January 2009 will never be able to legally be sold cigarettes.  This means there will be no restrictions on people who can already legally smoke.

The Bill strengthens enforcement activity including the extension of the Tobacco Retailers Register to include vapes and other nicotine products.  It also includes provision to allow for the introduction of a retail licensing scheme in the longer term to replace the Registration scheme.  This will be subject to public consultation.

In addition, the new Bill includes further welcome enhancements including the extension of existing tobacco advertising, sponsorship and brand-sharing rules to include cigarette papers, herbal smoking products, vaping products and other nicotine products.  The legislation will also allow regulations to be made to extend smoke-free provisions in public outdoor places (or workplaces) and to make smoke-free places also vape-free and heated tobacco-free.

Minister Nesbitt said:

“The proposed measures in this Bill offer a huge public health opportunity to reduce preventable death and illness.  This is particularly important in communities where the prevalence of tobacco use is the largest contributor to health inequalities. Reducing these health inequalities across Northern Ireland is one of my key areas of focus and I am positive this legislation will make a very significant difference going forward.”  

Organic Claims for Foods

The Organic Products Regulations 2009 SI 2009 No 842. require that businesses must be certified by an approved UK organic control body if they produce, prepare, store, import, export or sell organic products in the UK.

They can only label products as ‘organic’, or use terms relating to organic production methods, if:

• it meets organic production rules
• at least 95% of the agricultural ingredients are organic
• all other ingredients, additives and processing aids are listed as permitted within the organic regulations
  the product,
• its labels and any suppliers are certified by an approved UK organic control body
  Contact your control body for guidance on organic production rules.

Other terms relating to organic methods include:

• ‘organically grown’
• ‘organically produced’
• ‘grown or produced using organic principles’
• ‘grown or produced using organic methods’

The rules also apply to company names or brand names. For example, you could not use the name ‘Smith’s Organic’ for a non-organic product or business. For further information on the requirements go to Gov.uk or Business Companion

Environmental Claims 

To access guidance on the legality of environmental claims go to the CMA 

Food Safety Ratings

Businesses have a general duty not to undertake unfair trading practices under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (SI 2008 No.1277) (CPRs).

The CPRs aid in determining whether certain advertising and marketing practices are misleading, aggressive or lack due diligence.

In addition to this general duty, there are 31 business practices that are banned outright, such as displaying a quality mark without authorisation.

The aim of the CPRs is to provide a framework for determining whether certain practices are misleading, aggressive or lack due diligence on the basis that they would alter the behaviour of the average customer. In other words, if it can be determined that the customer made a purchase that they otherwise would not have done if they knew the full facts of the matter, then the business has engaged in unfair practices.

This covers engaging in misleading practices such as making false or deceptive statements in marketing material, or omitting important information that would have a bearing on the customer’s purchasing decision. For complete clarity this includes the display of a a false and outdated food safety rating. 

To see a related press item go to BBC News. 

Safety Alert: Water Beads

On the 20 September 2024, the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) issued a Safety Alert to warn of the risks that water beads can pose to children and vulnerable adults. This follows action taken by OPSS to remove unsafe products from the market.

The Safety Alert advises that water beads should be kept away from young children, under 5 years of age, and only used with older children or vulnerable adults under close supervision.

Water beads are beads that can expand up to 400 times their original size when exposed to liquid. They are marketed for various purposes, including for use as toys, in crafting, as home decor or in floristry. They are sold under a variety of names including, but not limited to, jelly balls, water balls, sensory beads or water crystals.

When swallowed, water beads expand and can block the gastrointestinal passage which can then require surgery. The beads can also cause choking and have harmed children in the UK, with reports linking them to deaths overseas. Water beads can be difficult to detect and do not show up in x-ray.

Read the Safety Alert for water beads.

Read Product Safety Reports for specific water bead products where action has been taken.

E-Bikes and E-Scooters Fire Safety Advice

E-bikes and e-scooters are becoming increasingly popular. Most are powered by lithium-ion batteries which can be charged in the home. The use of these batteries in a wide range of household products is becoming increasingly common.

It is important when charging e-bikes and e-scooters, you do so safely to avoid a risk of a fire starting and putting your families and homes at risk.

With an increased use of e-bikes and e-scooters, comes a corresponding fire safety concern associated with their charging and storage. The use of these products is expected to continue to rise. Some fire services and fire investigators have seen a rise in e-bike and e-scooter battery fires.

Currently there is limited data relating to the number of fires, but London Fire Brigade reported 8 fires caused by e-bikes and e-scooters in 2019. This rose to twenty-four in 2020 and fifty-nine by December 2021.

On occasions batteries can fail catastrophically, they can ‘explode’ and/or lead to a rapidly developing fire. For media stories go to: BBC News and Sky News of the 27 July 2023 and the Chronicle of the 31 July 2023. 

For further information go to NFCC and to  access the OPSS safety poster (pdf 203 kb).  

Pricing Survey

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has now reviewed the way a range of grocery retailers displayed their prices in-store to assess whether they were clear, accurate and matched the price people were charged at the till.

The review looked at the price marking practices of 139 grocery stores in England and Wales, including supermarket chains, symbol convenience stores (small, independent retailers that operate under a symbol brand name), variety stores and independent food stores.

The CMA conducted on-site inspections and looked at a sample of products – such as fresh fruit and vegetables and products on promotion. During inspections at some stores, the CMA found examples where the retailer was displaying inaccurate prices or failed to display prices at all for certain products. Failing to provide clear and accurate pricing information for products on sale is a breach of consumer law.

Overall, the majority of issues were found at independent food stores and symbol convenience stores. The most common types of issues seen were missing prices, conflicting prices (instances where prices indicated on products conflicted with those shown on shelf edge labels) and prices not being displayed sufficiently close to products.

There were also issues with prices not being clearly legible, the selling price being obscured, and multibuy promotion labels that didn’t specify the price of the items individually.

The percentage of pricing errors found at each type of store were:

Supermarkets: 4.2%
Symbol convenience stores: 14.4%
Variety stores: 5.6%
Independent food stores: 7.8%
Overall, 60% of the errors resulted in a higher price being charged at the till. Further breakdowns by store type can be found in the report. For further detail go to CMA. To access a Poster (pdf 2.6 mb)

EU Exit

Updated guidance on the latest changes can be found on Gov.uk   

Illegal Activity

The job of the Trading Standards Service is to protect consumers and legitimate businesses in Newcastle upon Tyne. To do this we enforce government legislation, provide advice for businesses, deal with thousands of consumer complaints and business enquiries every year and investigate and prosecute offenders.

To report someone you suspect of selling illegal goods please:

• report illegal commercial activity online

We have over 8,000 business premises in Newcastle and these include farms, importers, multinational chains and independent start-ups. Before you get started on a new venture, or if you just want to make sure you're doing the right thing, Trading Standards can advise you on the legal requirements of compliance.

Guidance for businesses can be found at Business Companion which offers information on basics of the law, through to in-depth assistance. If you have a specific query, please contact us directly. 

Dealers in second-hand goods within Newcastle must register with the authority under the City of Newcastle upon Tyne Act 2000.

For more information on the work we do, please see our Business Service Plan page. 

Contact

Trading Standards service, Directorate of City Operations, Neighbourhoods and Regulatory Services, Civic Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8QH. Email: tradingstandards@newcastle.gov.uk