The new Product Regulation and Metrology Bill (PRMB), unveiled on 4 September 2024 as part of the new Labour government's legislative agenda, continues to move through the parliamentary process. Most recently, the PRMB had its second reading in the House of Lords on 8 October 2024.
What is the background to the PRMB?
The PRMB follows the UK's Department for Business and Trade and Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) 2023 consultation on proposed reforms to the UK's post-Brexit product safety framework.
That consultation, which we discussed in a previous Fieldfisher Insight, recognised that both the way consumers buy products and the nature of the products themselves have undergone significant changes since the UK's current product safety legislation was put in place.
Most of the UK's existing key product safety legislation is EU-derived and the EU is also – independently of the UK's efforts – implementing reforms, most recently by the enactment of a new General Product Safety Regulation to replace, from December, the current General Product Safety Directive (on which the UK's key General Product Safety Regulations 2005 are based).
Since the existing UK laws were enacted, vastly more sales are now conducted online, there are many more direct-to-consumer sales via online marketplace platforms and consumer products are also increasingly incorporating connected or artificial intelligence-type features.
Further, the consultation noted that the current legal framework – which exists across a patchwork of laws that often interact in confusing ways – can make it complex and costly for even established businesses to bring products to market, let alone potential new entrants.
What does the PRMB seek to do?
The PRMB would, if enacted, represent a very significant shift in the UK's approach to product safety with far-reaching consequences for both businesses placing products on the UK market and consumers.
Below, we set out some of the PRMB's key elements:
- broad product focus - the PRMB would apply to a broad range of products including consumer products and toys, but certain categories of products, including food and medicines and medical devices, are excluded (interestingly, the definition of 'product' in the PRMB only refers to 'tangible' items although the accompanying Explanatory Memorandum contemplates software being an 'intangible' component of a product);
- powers for the UK Government to develop new product laws - the PRMB would grant extensive authority to the UK Government to develop and introduce new product laws via secondary legislation, including laws to reduce or mitigate the risks presented by products and ensure that products operate efficiently and effectively;
- alignment with EU rules on environmental impacts - the powers granted to the UK Government would also allow for laws to be introduced to reduce or mitigate the environmental impact of products where the EU makes provision in that area;
- responding to new product risks such as AI and lithium e-bike batteries - while the risks associated with developing trends such as artificial intelligence are not referred to in the PRMB itself, the accompanying Explanatory Memorandum notes that the PRMB would allow for the UK to respond to new product risks (such as those associated with the ingestion of button batteries by children and the risks associated with lithium batteries in e-bikes) and enable the UK to keep pace with technological advances such as AI;
- modern supply chains - the PRMB would allow for the regulation of "new and emerging business models" such as e-commerce platforms; and
- recognition of EU product laws - the PRMB seeks to ensure that UK laws can be updated to recognise new or updated EU product requirements with the aim of preventing additional costs for businesses and ensuring regulatory stability.
What is the timeline from here?
At present, the PRMB should be expected to become law at some point early next year with implementing legislation following at intervals after that.
During the PRMB's second reading in the House of Lords, the Government was unable to confirm whether draft secondary legislation under the bill would be published for scrutiny before the PRMB becomes law or, once the PRMB has passed, whether it would be open to scrutiny in a Parliamentary committee. The Government stated that it was still working through the relevant policy positions. This potential lack of clarity will be of concern to industry.
Our comments
The full ramifications of the PRMB – given that it is really just a framework instrument under which the substantive rules will be produced – will only become apparent once secondary legislation is drafted and implemented.
One of the most significant elements of the PRMB is the establishment of a framework for potential alignment with EU product and product-related environmental standards provided this is seen to be advantageous to the UK.
While this will likely be welcomed by businesses – which have faced an increasing divergence between UK and EU requirements, particularly in relation to product safety and sustainability-driven requirements – the issue of how far the UK should seek to align with the EU remains politically sensitive. Indeed, during the PRMB's second reading, the Government had to deny that the bill was a step towards rejoining the EU 'by the backdoor'. Instead, the PRMB would, in the UK Government's view, enable the UK to choose as to whether it is in its interest for product laws to take the same approach as has been adopted in the EU.
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