Guidance for Traders

This page sets out what the Consumer Protection Office of the Velocity Interoperability Network expects of anyone who supplies goods within the Velocity Interoperability Network in the course of a business. It applies to the maker, to the importer into the Network, to the wholesaler and to the shop, and it applies to goods sold at a distance as it applies to goods sold across a counter.

The Office would rather advise a trader before a product is supplied than assess it afterwards. A trader who is unsure whether a product meets the rules, or which supplementary standard applies to it, should write and ask. Advice given in reply is free, is given in writing, and is not a certificate: the duty to satisfy yourself that a product is safe remains with the trader in every case.

The seven duties.

Register as a supplier

Anyone supplying goods within the Network in the course of a business must be entered on the register of suppliers. Registration is free and is made by writing to the Office with the trading name, the classes of product supplied, and the name of the person who will receive notices from the Office.

Satisfy yourself that the product is safe before supplying it

The duty rests on the trader, not on the Office. Hold the test report the supplementary standard requires, read the instructions and warnings as a buyer would read them, and consider who will foreseeably use the product and how.

Keep records of supply for six years

Records must show what was supplied, in what quantity, to whom and on what date, and from whom the trader obtained the product. They must be produced to the Office within five working days of a written request.

Notify an unsafe product within two working days

The duty arises as soon as the trader has reason to believe a product it has supplied is unsafe. It applies even where the trader intends to act of its own accord, and even where the number of units affected is small.

Pass safety information down the chain

A wholesaler must give its customers the warnings and instructions it received, in the language in which they were received, and must tell them of any change to that information.

Act on a direction on the day it is given

A direction to withdraw or to recall a product takes effect at once. Stop supply, inform identified customers within the period set by the class of recall, and report to the Office until the recall is closed.

Cooperate with an assessment

Supply samples, technical documentation and test reports when asked, and do not supply further units while a stop is in force. Refusal is itself a breach of the rules and is recorded against the trader's entry on the register.

Notifying an unsafe product. This is the duty traders most often ask about. The five steps below apply whatever the product and however the hazard came to light.

1. 1

   Step 1: Establish what you know

   Record the product, the model or batch markings affected, the hazard, how it came to light, the number of units supplied and the dates of supply. Do not delay the notification while you complete an internal investigation; send what you have and supplement it later.

2. 2

   Step 2: Write to the Office within two working days

   Send the notification to the Office's email address with the words 'Product safety notification' at the head of the message. The two working days run from the moment you had reason to believe the product was unsafe, not from the completion of your enquiries.

3. 3

   Step 3: Say what you have already done

   State whether supply has stopped, whether customers have been told, and what you propose to do next. A trader that has already stopped supply and begun to inform customers will normally be left to run the recall itself under the Office's supervision.

4. 4

   Step 4: Receive the Office's response

   The Office replies within two working days, saying whether it is opening an assessment, directing a withdrawal, directing a recall, or taking no action. Where a recall is directed, the product is entered on the public register the same day.

5. 5

   Step 5: Report until the recall is closed

   Report at the interval fixed by the class of recall, giving the units recovered or corrected as a proportion of those supplied. The Office closes the recall when the threshold for the class is met and announces the closure in the Newsroom.

Deadlines. The periods below are the ones the Office enforces. Working days exclude the days on which the Office is closed, which are announced in the Newsroom.

The register of suppliers. The register records who supplies what within the Network, so that a product can be traced to a responsible person and so that consumers can see how a trader has conducted itself. The fields below are held for every entry. The public part of the register will open to search in a later release, which will be announced in the Newsroom.

The rules a product is measured against are set out under Product Safety; the obligations that follow a recall are set out under Recalls; and the rights a trader must honour towards its buyers are set out under Consumer Rights. Registrations, notifications and requests for guidance should be sent to contact@consumer.gov.vin.