Archived News Article
07/12/PAS 7100: 2018 Code of practice on consumer product safety recalls
A recent announcement from BEIS Office for Product Safety and Standards to make the recently published PAS 7100: 2018 Code of practice on consumer product safety related recalls and other corrective actions available to SME’s free of charge has been welcomed by industry and regulators alike.
Following discussions with and feedback from industry and product safety experts, representatives of the Office confirmed at the Business Reference Panel meeting in Victoria this week that the publicly accessible standard or PAS should and will be exactly that, to both support industry and promote the uptake of the standard itself. This is of particularly good news for the furniture industry which is dominated by micro and small to medium size businesses.
Launched in March 2018, the PAS document or code was the first publication and major initiative from the Office of Product Safety and Standards, who will be marking their 1 year anniversary in January 2019.
The benefits of this document are two-fold, firstly in the clarity and practicality it offers in what is reasonably expected from businesses such as manufacturers, retailers, importers or distributors in the event of a product issue and secondly in its transparency of information on how enforcement bodies can effectively support businesses, including the approach that can be taken when a business fails to take appropriate action.
Part 1 of PAS 7100: 2018 offers practical guidance to help businesses meet their legal duties, in relation to the General Product Safety Regulations SI 2005 No.1803. It focuses on the need for a proactive approach, identifying key steps that should be in place to facilitate the monitoring, assessment, notification and correction of unsafe consumer products including through public recall or other corrective action.
Part 2 gives guidance to supporting regulators and market surveillance or enforcement authorities on the assistance that should be made available to businesses in order to support them in meeting their obligations in relation to issues involving the safety of consumer products.
Whilst the document is still available to purchase via the BSI website, SME’s will be able to download the document via the following link which features a section in the centre of the page (on the “overview” tab) to enable free download.