On 31 March 2026, the UK Department for Business and Trade (“DBT”) and the Office for Product Safety and Standards (“OPSS”) launched two parallel consultations proposing a comprehensive overhaul of the UK's product safety and enforcement regime.
The first sets out a new core product safety framework, replacing the UK General Product Safety Regulations 2005 (“GPSR 2005”), to more closely align with new EU general product safety rules, including express obligations for online marketplaces, bringing cybersecurity considerations to the determination of what is a safe product, and digital labelling. The second consultation proposes a consolidated market surveillance and enforcement framework, introducing civil monetary penalties and modernised enforcement powers to be applied consistently across all sectors. Both consultations propose secondary legislation to be made using powers conferred by the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 (the “Act”), which received Royal Assent in July 2025 (read more here).
In this article, we outline the key points from the consultations and provide some commentary, including what this may mean for affected businesses.
Consultation 1: The new product safety framework
The product safety consultation proposes to replace GPSR 2005 with a modernised framework with a wider scope, covering both consumer and business products. Like the existing rules, this would include specified exceptions such as agricultural, food and medicinal products. The definition of a ‘safe’ product will be broadly retained from GPSR 2005 but accompanied by updated safety considerations aligned with the EU's General Product Safety Regulation, such as whether a product poses cybersecurity risks or is likely to appeal to children even if not intended for them. The consultation notes that to protect the UK internal market, the new framework will apply across the UK, taking account of the Windsor Framework. This approach will continue to facilitate Northern Ireland’s dual market access to both UK and EU markets. Where EU product safety regulations apply, such as the EU General Product Safety Regulation, parts of the new framework will apply in Great Britain in a complementary way.
A central pillar of the reforms is a new set of supply chain obligations. The framework will place duties on three categories of actor: producers, onward suppliers (replacing the existing ‘distributor’ category and expressly including fulfilment service providers), and online marketplaces. Under the proposed framework, online marketplaces will be required to act with due care to prevent, identify, and remove dangerous products from, and verify the contact details of sellers on, their platforms. These requirements respond to evidence of significant volumes of unsafe products being sold through online channels, including findings that 90% of toys purchased from third-party sellers on major online marketplaces failed to meet UK legal safety requirements.
The consultation also proposes a shift towards "digital by default" product information, allowing safety warnings, instructions and producer contact details to be provided digitally (for example, via QR codes) rather than exclusively on physical labels, with appropriate safeguards for consumers with limited digital access. This aligns with the government's broader labelling reform agenda for UKCA-marked products and anticipates similar digital labelling developments being considered in the EU.
Consultation 2: Market surveillance and enforcement
The enforcement consultation proposes consolidating the UK's fragmented enforcement landscape — currently spread across over 150 pieces of legislation — into a single, coherent enforcement toolkit contained in one statutory instrument. The aim is to provide relevant authorities with a streamlined set of investigation and intervention powers that apply consistently across all product sectors and at every stage of the product journey, from design and manufacture through to disposal. In revising and consolidating the system, the government has stated it will consider how current and future EU market surveillance requirements can be accommodated in a unified approach for the UK.
A significant reform is the proposed introduction of civil monetary penalties (“CMPs”) as an alternative to the current reliance on criminal sanctions for product regulation breaches. The consultation seeks views on fixed, variable and escalating penalty models, with penalties categorised according to the severity of the breach. The government also proposes expanding the use of enforcement undertakings, allowing businesses that acknowledge compliance issues to commit to corrective action within agreed timescales, avoiding further enforcement proceedings where the undertaking is satisfied.
The consultation also proposes a precautionary ‘backstop’ power, allowing the Secretary of State to temporarily restrict the supply of a product where there is reason to believe it could pose a serious risk but there is insufficient evidence to definitively determine harm. Finally, it outlines enhanced information-sharing powers between relevant authorities, emergency services and specified persons, and the possibility of a cost recovery framework to ensure that businesses requiring significant regulatory intervention contribute to enforcement costs.
Context: alignment with EU reforms
The UK consultations arrive at a significant moment for product regulation on both sides of the Channel. The European Commission has its own parallel consultations underway to reform the New Legislative Framework (“NLF”) and evaluate the Market Surveillance Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, with a European Product Act planned for adoption in Q3 2026 (read more here). While the UK government has been clear that these will be the UK's own rules made in the interests of UK consumers and businesses, it has expressly stated that the proposals will "support trade with the EU and globally" and that it is "conscious of many businesses' desire to remain in step with our closest trading partners". This is evident in the decision to broadly mirror the EU's updated safety assessment considerations.
For businesses operating across both markets, the direction of travel is strikingly similar: more digital compliance tools, enhanced enforcement powers, tighter obligations on online marketplaces, and clearer supply chain accountability.
Next steps
Any business that places products on the UK market, whether as a manufacturer, importer, distributor, or retailer, should give serious consideration to responding to both consultations, particularly those with significant e-commerce operations, as well as those operating online marketplace platforms.
Both consultations close at 23:59 BST on 23 June 2026. The government has committed to publishing a joint response to both consultations and will then bring forward secondary legislation under the Act to implement the reforms.
Article co-authored by Jack Payne, Trainee Solicitor.
