The Suffolk Trading Standards Imports Team is a Market Surveillance Authority working as part of the OPSS Product Safety at Ports & Borders Programme.
The team are responsible for ensuring that consumer goods imported via Felixstowe comply with product safety laws. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is part of the Department for Business and Trade (DBT).
Consignments subject to an intervention are identified by the Border Profiling Unit at OPSS through analysis of risk and intelligence.
Our Imports Team carries out inspections of high risk consumer products arriving in the UK via the Port of Felixstowe and regularly takes samples in order to assess compliance with relevant product safety legislation.
Product samples may be subject to an in-house examination against relevant safety standards and Regulations. Many samples are submitted for further testing to an external test house.
If products are found to be non-compliant with safety laws, they may be refused entry, or importers may be required to carry out re-labelling under the supervision of their Local Trading Standards. Products presenting a serious safety risk may be destroyed.
Our Imports Team takes on a national role to ensure the best possible security measures are in place to protect the public across the whole of the UK from unsafe products.
Contact the Import Surveillance Team
