History of the Consumer Protection Office

The Consumer Protection Office of the Velocity Interoperability Network is a young institution, and most of its history is the history of the four weeks before it existed. The milestones below record the transfer of consumer protection from the member organisations of the Network to a single office, and will be extended as the Office's work develops.

1. Before August 2026

   Consumer protection left to member organisations

   Each member organisation of the Network set its own conditions of supply and dealt with the complaints of the people who bought from it. There was no common standard of product safety, no shared register of recalls, and no single place to which a consumer could bring a complaint against a trader established elsewhere in the Network.

2. 10 August 2026

   The transition period opens

   Member organisations began transferring their product safety files, complaint records, outstanding recall notices and supplier returns to the new Office. Work in hand at the point of transfer continued without interruption under the arrangements that governed it.

3. 24 August 2026

   A single contact address published

   The Office's contact address was published, and consumers were able to write to one place about a purchase made anywhere in the Network. Enquiries in the second half of the transition period ran a fifth higher than in the first.

4. 31 August 2026

   The last records transferred

   The final member organisation completed its transfer. By the close of the transition period 4,812 enquiries had been handled, 1,376 complaints registered and 1,043 of them resolved.

5. 6 September 2026

   Office established

   The Consumer Protection Office of the Velocity Interoperability Network was formally established, with responsibility for the safety of goods supplied within the Network, the register of recalls, the rights of buyers, the duties of traders and the handling of consumer complaints.

6. 6 September 2026

   Official website launched

   The Office launched consumer.gov.vin, carrying press releases and official statements, the general product safety rules, the register of recalls in force, guidance for consumers and traders, and the procedure for bringing a complaint.

7. 6 September 2026

   Rules, register and first figures published

   The eight general product safety rules and the four supplementary standards took effect. Six recalls were entered on the first register, four of them classified Class A. The register of suppliers opened with 214 traders, and the Office published its first statistical release covering the transition period.

8. Forthcoming

   The public register and quarterly reporting

   The opening of the register of suppliers to public search, and the Office's first full quarterly statistical report covering the quarter ending 30 September 2026, will be announced in the Newsroom.

Announcements are published in the Newsroom. For the Office's present responsibilities and powers, see About the Office; for the figures referred to above, see Statistics.