Asked by: Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2016 to Question 23018, on lasers: regulation, what steps he is taking to restrict direct sale into the UK to individual customers.
Answered by Anna Soubry
I refer to my answer of 25 January.
Under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 and the General Product Safety Regulations, a business importing into the EU/EEA must have a representative within the EU/EEA who is responsible and liable for the safety of imported goods. This enables Customs and Trading Standards to check that imported laser products comply with safety standards. It is harder for them to carry out these checks where customers order goods from a company outside the EU and receive them directly through the post.
We therefore advise customers who want to buy laser products to go to a reputable dealer with authorised representation in the European Union. If consumers are concerned about the safety of laser products on sale they should report the website or retailer to their local Trading Standards department.
Asked by: Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2016 to Question 23018, what steps he is taking to limit the availability of laser pens.
Answered by Anna Soubry
I refer to my answer of 25 January.
I have asked my officials as a first step to request an urgent update from Trading Standards on their recent market surveillance activities. I am aware that Leicester Trading Standards recently seized 1,500 unsafe laser pens at point of entry and the importer agreed to destroy them.
In addition RAPEX (the European electronic notification platform for the notifying and removal of dangerous consumer products) statistics show 98 different types of laser pointers were removed from the EU market and of these 9 different products were notified by UK market surveillance authorities.
Asked by: Oliver Dowden (Conservative - Hertsmere)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2016 to Question 23018, what steps he is taking to enforce the General Product Safety Regulations 2005.
Answered by Anna Soubry
Consumer products such as laser pens intended for use by consumers are regulated under The General Product Safety Regulations 2005. BIS is responsible for the legislation but it is enforced by Local Authority Trading Standards Services.
Under the rules, Trading Standards Officers have a range of powers available to them with regards enforcement of the legislation such as requirements to mark or to warn, or to issue withdrawal or recall notices. They also have the power to prosecute traders.
This is a well-established regime that has seen many hundreds of dangerous products taken off the market including laser pens.