Cigarettes and Smoking
More and more Trading Standards professionals are having to include health-related issues within their areas of expertise. Obvious examples include expanding food enforcement to tackle issues of healthy eating and obesity, and working with the Police and other agencies to tackle underage drinking. However, the focus again is on cigarettes and smoking with the imminent tobacco display ban coming into force in Scotland, and publicised debates in the press this recently between the Tobacco Retailers Alliance and Anti-Smoking Groups.
Trading Standards are no doubt caught somewhere in the middle, already working routinely on underage sales of cigarettes, and now facing further legislation to become involved with.
Figures from WHO (The World Health Organisation) illustrate why smoking remains such a powerful issue; with 5.4 million people dying each year globally from tobacco-related illnesses, and the expectation that this will rise to 8 million in just two decades time. In the UK, Cancer Research report that whilst less than 1% of 11 year olds smoke regularly, this rises to 15% by the age of 15. These figures alone show the importance of tackling underage sales. But whilst work on underage sales has been .... >> Read more
Writer: Alison Ramsden, September 2010
Alison is a Trading Standards Expert and regularly contributes to Barbour's Blog and weekly briefings.
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Will this soon be a shot of the past?
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Rogue Trading on the Increase?
A recent press release from the OFT has warned that the current summer is likely to prompt an increase in rogue traders, as consumers realise that the combination of light evenings and lack of rain make perfect conditions for home improvements. This is based on the reported 15% rise of such complaints to Consumer Direct in the summer of 2009, compared to the year before.
But perhaps, rather than rogue traders themselves being on the increase, it is actually the reporting of them which has intensified. For a long time now, Trading Standards have worked to ensure that consumers are savvier, aware of their rights, and alert to being ripped off. The launch of Consumer Direct in 2004 has proved highly successful in both the providing of advice, and warning of scams and rogue trader activity... >> Read more
Writer: Alison Ramsden, July 2010
Alison is a Trading Standards Expert and regularly contributes to Barbour's Blog and weekly briefings.
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The summer is a perfect time for renovation!
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