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About trading standards

There are Trading Standards Services based in each of the 22 individual local authorities in Wales. The Services work in partnership through Wales Heads of Trading Standards (WHoTS) to provide a co-ordinated, consistent and improved service to Welsh Businesses and Welsh Consumers.

This website provides information on where you can access help and advice whether you are a business or a consumer.

Trading Standards Services within local authorities are responsible for a wide range of laws governing products and services that we buy as consumers. Our officers give advice to businesses, investigate complaints, undertake inspections and test and sample products and services.

Within each council in Wales there are operational Trading Standards staff who, between them, deal with thousands of complaints and enquires every year and contact many Welsh businesses to help them comply with consumer protection legislation.

By implementing national (UK) policy to support fair and competitive markets, honest enterprise and good business, trading standards services are fundamental to:

Economic recovery
Improving health
Environmental protection
Community safety

In Wales, Welsh Government has established enforcement priorities for regulatory services, which have been in effect since 2010. They stipulate that local authorities must have regard to these priorities when assigning resources to their service areas, like trading standards. The 4 priorities are listed below, with examples of areas of work where trading standards contribute to them.

Welsh Governent Enforcement Priority	Examples of Trading Standards Work
Protecting individuals from harm and promoting health improvement	Underage sales enforcement Nutrition claims Partnership work on local Health and Wellbeing strategies Targeted product safety testing
Ensuring the safety & quality of the food chain to minimise risk to human and animal health	Checking food claims Sampling & analysis work
Promoting a fair & just trading environment for citizens and businesses	Tackling unfair practices, like doorstep crime and scams Providing accessible business advice Focussing on targeted, risk-based delivery
Improving the local environment to positively influence quality of life and promote sustainability	Tackling anti-social behaviour through underage sales enforcement Monitoring environmental claims on products

Punching above its weight in terms of protecting consumers from suffering detriment, supporting the prosperity of reputable traders and ensuring the safety of communities the Service also works regionally to maximise resources, via management of a number of specialist teams, notably:

Scambusters – Specialist investigative team dealing with major consumer fraud and doorstep crime
Wales Illegal Moneylending Team – tackling loan sharks and supporting the vulnerable people they prey on
National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team- From 1st April 2014, Powys County Council took over responsibility for the Estate Agents Act 1979 from the Office of Fair Trading.

We hope you find this website useful. If you are unable to find the information you are looking for you can of course contact your local Trading Standards Service for assistance. If you are a consumer who is having difficulty with a product or service you have bought please use the resources on our Consumer Advice pages.