New legislation transforms e-commerce by enforcing equal standards on digital platforms and brick-and-mortar retailers, reshaping safety and compliance rules across the UK supply chain.
The UK government has taken a bold step to modernize consumer safety and restore trust in digital commerce. Under its Plan for Change initiative, the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 came into force on 21 July 2025, ushering in a new era where online marketplaces are held to the same product safety standards as traditional retailers.
From global platforms like Amazon and eBay to smaller independent e-commerce businesses, every player in the supply chain—manufacturers, importers, distributors, and even software providers—must now meet stricter obligations designed to protect consumers from unsafe goods.
The law was triggered by alarming safety incidents in recent years, including a surge in fires caused by e-bikes and e-scooters, with official data showing 211 reported cases in 2024 alone. By extending liability to digital marketplaces, the government aims to curb these risks and close long-standing gaps in online product regulation.
But what exactly changes under this law, who does it impact, and how should businesses prepare to stay compliant? Next Business 24 breaks down everything e-commerce companies and online sellers need to know about this game-changing regulation.
As a part of its Plan for Change initiative, the UK authorities launched the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 earlier this yr.
Below the brand new legislation, merchandise bought by ecommerce companies and on-line marketplaces can be held to the identical requirements as a bodily, brick-and-mortar retailer.
This new regulation was handed to make on-line marketplaces safer and defend the general public from harmful merchandise. However what does this imply for on-line shops and sellers?
At Startups, we’ve helped entrepreneurs keep updated with related legal guidelines for 25 years. We’ll information you thru all the pieces you should know in regards to the Product Regulation and Metrology Act, together with what’s altering, who it applies to, and how one can comply.
💡Key takeaways
- The Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 is a brand new legislation regulating the security and measurements of sure merchandise marketed and used within the UK.
- The aim of the Act is to maintain on-line marketplaces straight accountable for guaranteeing the security of merchandise bought on their platform.
- The Act applies to all events within the provide chain, together with producers, importers, distributors, and product installers.
- The brand new legislation additionally consists of the necessity to regulate software program and different non-physical elements linked to a bodily merchandise (e.g. an app).
- Failure to adjust to the Act might lead to necessary product remembers, market withdrawals, monetary penalties, and even imprisonment.
What’s the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025?
The Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 is a brand new legislation that got here into impact on 21 July 2025, establishing a brand new authorized framework to manage how merchandise are marketed, bought, and used within the UK.
As a part of this, on-line marketplaces similar to Amazon, eBay, and Etsy can be held accountable for harmful merchandise bought on their platforms, guaranteeing they take higher duty for vetting sellers and eradicating unsafe items. Ecommerce companies and on-line sellers may also be chargeable for complying with these laws.
The brand new legislation was launched as a response to the rise in fire-related incidents following the gross sales of e-bikes and e-scooters. In 2024, the Workplace for Product Security and Requirements obtained experiences of 211 fires involving these merchandise, equal to a fireplace each 1.7 days.
What’s altering with the brand new legislation?
A number of modifications will happen beneath this new legislation. The Act is break up into three main sections, that are as follows:
Product laws (sections 1-4)
The Secretary of State might introduce laws to cut back/handle risks that merchandise may pose, guarantee merchandise work effectively and effectively, and that merchandise used for weighing or measuring are correct. Sure merchandise are excluded from this, similar to meals, medication, and medical gadgets.
Metrology (sections 5-6)
Permits the Secretary of State to determine which models of measurement (e.g. kilograms, metres, or litres) are authorized to make use of, and regulate the precise portions (quantities) that merchandise could also be bought in.
Supplementary provisions (sections 7-11)
The legislation outlines how authorities can share data to make sure the foundations are adopted, make modifications to older laws, and add new guidelines for the way these laws will work with Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish governments.
Who does the Act apply to?
The Act applies to all events concerned within the lifecycle of a product marketed or used within the UK. This consists of the producer, importer, distributor, the one that installs a product, on-line marketplaces/retailers, and high quality management businesses.
This legislation doesn’t solely apply to these promoting fire-hazard batteries or e-bikes/e-scooters. As a substitute, the Act’s energy can be utilized to make laws for any tangible merchandise that’s marketed or used within the UK, together with toys, cosmetics, furnishings, and industrial tools. As talked about above, objects like meals, medication, and medical gadgets should not included.
Furthermore, the legislation doesn’t simply cowl the bodily product (e.g. the scooter itself), but in addition the software program and non-physical elements that include or are linked to the product, similar to controlling software program or an app.
What ought to on-line marketplaces do to conform?
Below the Act, on-line marketplaces have a transparent set of duties to assist defend customers and preserve product security. These obligations give attention to ensuring that unsafe merchandise don’t attain consumers and that sellers meet the required requirements.
On-line marketplaces are anticipated to:
- Forestall unsafe merchandise from being made out there to customers
- Be sure that on-line sellers working on the platform adjust to security obligations
- Present related security data
- Cooperate intently with regulators
These guidelines are much like these of the EU’s Common Product Security Regulation (GPSR) and Digital Providers Act (DSA), each of which apply to on-line marketplaces working inside that area.
Learn how to put together what you are promoting for compliance
To remain compliant, on-line shops and ecommerce retailers ought to take a proactive method to product security and regulatory necessities.
- Keep up to date: Hold observe of modifications in product security legal guidelines to make sure compliance.
- Audit your merchandise: Evaluation your product vary to verify all the pieces meets present security requirements.
- Get your paperwork so as: Preserve clear information of security certifications, danger assessments, check experiences, and compliance paperwork, in case regulators request them.
- Talk with regulators: Be proactive and responsive when authorities attain out, and guarantee full cooperation throughout inspections or investigations.
What’s going to occur to those that don’t comply?
As with every legislation, the implications for not complying with the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 could be extreme, leading to product removing, reputational harm, and even felony penalties.
Fast actions embody the authorities issuing notices to ban the advertising and marketing or use of a product. This can lead to a withdrawal from the market (removing from cabinets) or a whole recall (prospects should return it). They’ll additionally seize and retain unsafe merchandise.
In additional critical circumstances, authorities might impose monetary penalties for breaches of regulation. Moreover, if a violation is discovered to be a felony offence, an individual might face limitless fines and as much as two years’ imprisonment.
Conclusion
Total, the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 is there to guard customers from unsafe merchandise and to stop additional well being and security incidents.
On-line marketplaces and sellers ought to take the time to satisfy compliance with this new legislation by guaranteeing merchandise meet these requirements, protecting updated with new laws, and being totally cooperative when regulators come knocking.
Compliance not solely protects you from critical penalties but in addition helps construct buyer belief, increase model status, and create a safer market for everybody.
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