F E AT U R E
Closing his part of the segment, Liam said that the UK is the only
state to have made and attempt to meet the fullest requirements
of the TPD on time.
The final segment of the IBVTA’s Regulations and Standards
talk featured Kate Pike of Trading Standards North West, who
gave an invaluable glimpse of the regulatory officer’s perspective,
showing the IBVTA would not be a platform for partisan politics,
but a forum for essential voices and views.
“Our aim is to support, not stifle businesses, ensuring they
compete on a level playing field,” she said.
Trading Standards North West services over 23 million constituents
in their region, with 1500 TS officers operating in nearly 200 local
authorities in Great Britain and are responsible for enforcing over
100 separate pieces of legislation. Kate Pike described the TSA’s
resources as being stretched thin and facing resource issues,
as most of its work is now cross-border; businesses buy and
sell beyond local borders and criminals operate the same way.
Tension between local and national interests also remains.
“The biggest problems come
when national authority demands
regulation and local politicians on
councils are either disinterested or
opposed to it, and ultimately these
people are our paymasters,” Kate Pike
Thick, stalling matters of bureaucracy can slow even the best of
organisations, and the most well-intentioned of their staff. Kate
soberly reminded the gathered attendees that “you can become a
doctor quicker than you can become a TS officer.”
Though thorough and educational, none of the IBVTA talks were
framed as ends in themselves, and Kate acknowledged the extent
of unfinished business in the world of regulation, chief among
them the unsolved issue raised by international sellers unbound
by UK rules (such as the USA and China) supplying products to
UK consumers and businesses.
But this was not a series of problems touted without solutions.
“Our best means of intelligence gathering to better the situation
comes through the cooperation of honest retailers. Trading
Standards relies on the law-abiding assistance of everyone, be
they multinational corporation or private citizen.”
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