What Trading Standards does

Here you can find out about what the Trading Standards service does.

Safety and road traffic

Consumer safety:

• checks the safety of a wide range of consumer goods including toys, upholstered furniture, and electrical items
• enforces laws that prevent the sale of alcohol, tobacco, knives and other age-restricted products to young people
• carries out checks to ensure vehicles are not overloaded or illegally using weight-restricted roads
• licenses petrol filling stations and checks their safety in partnership with Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service

Animal health

Animal health:

• attends livestock markets to protect the health and welfare of farm animals
• checks the identification of farm animals to help prevent and eradicate the spread of disease
• ensures that farm animals are legally and correctly transported
• ensures the correct disposal of dead farm animals
• provides advice to farmers on animal health and welfare and disease control requirements
• inspects livestock premises and carry out investigations into complaints

Food, agriculture and metrology

Weights and measures matters and food:

• carries out food standards inspection in shops and factories
• carries out food and feed hygiene inspections on farms
• checks and samples food for composition, labelling and 'use by' dates
• checks and samples animal feeding stuffs and fertilisers for composition and labelling
• investigates complaints about short weight
• investigates complaints about food and feed matters
• checks packaged goods to ensure correct weight and to ensure that packers and importers are meeting their statutory duties

Fair trading, advice and education

Fair trading deals with:

• misdescribed goods including cars
• doorstep crime and bogus callers
• product counterfeiting
• misleading price indications
• package holidays and timeshare
• DVD film classifications
• consumer credit - including loan sharks
• estate agent descriptions
• rogue traders who trade unfairly

They also handle complex consumer law issues referred to the service by Consumer Direct and provide education to local consumers and business about trading standards issues.