Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [HL] 2024-25

The Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [HL] (Bill 201, 2024-25) passed to the House of Commons on 13 March 2025, having completed all its stages in the House of Lords. Second reading of this government bill is scheduled for 1 April 2025.

The bill, which consists of 15 clauses and one schedule, makes provision about the marketing and use of products in the UK and about the units of measurement and the quantities in which goods are marketed in the UK (legal metrology). It is an enabling bill: it confers powers to government ministers to develop the details of the legislation at a later date. If enacted, the bill will provide new delegated powers to ministers to set and update product safety and metrology rules, as well as to enable the UK to choose whether to recognise EU product requirements.

Background

The provisions in the bill reflect proposals in a government consultation on Smarter regulation: UK product safety review (PDF) (August 2023). The previous government did not publish a response to this consultation.

The background notes to the King’s Speech (17 July 2024) included reference to a new Product Safety and Metrology Bill. A government response to the 2023 consultation was published on 5 November 2024. According to the government, the aim of the bill is to “preserve the UK’s status as a global leader in product regulation, supporting businesses and protecting consumers”.

Main provisions

In summary, the bill would:

• Give the secretary of state (Department for Business and Trade, DBT) the power to make “product regulations” in relation to products marketed or used in the UK, for the purpose of reducing or mitigating the risks presented by those products, ensuring that products operate effectively, or ensuring that products designed for weighing or measuring operate accurately (clause 1).
• Allow the secretary of state, by regulations, to set “product requirements” for the marketing or use of products in the UK, which corresponds to, or is similar to a provision of “relevant EU law” for the purpose of reducing or mitigating the environmental impact of products (clause 1(2)).
• Allow product regulations (made under clause 1) to set out “requirements” that relate to the conditions that must be met for products to be marketed or used in the UK. For example, product requirements may relate to the production, components (whether tangible or intangible, such as software), composition or other characteristics of products or their installation (clause 2).
• Allow product regulations to give relevant authorities powers to monitor and investigate compliance, secure compliance and mitigate the effect of non-compliance with product and metrology regulations (clause 3).
• Allow product regulations to provide for the creation of new criminal offences and to impose civil sanctions for non-compliance with product and metrology regulations(clause 3).
• Allow the secretary of state, when making product regulations under clause 1, to disapply or modify regulatory requirements in response to national emergencies (clause 4).
• Give the secretary of state (DBT) the power to make metrology regulations about the units of measurement that must be used to express quantities. Regulations would be able to provide how units are to be calculated and how they should be referred to (clause 5).
• Allow metrology regulations to include provisions relating to enforcement (clause 6).
• Allow product or metrology regulations to make provision about information sharing by a relevant authority carrying out functions under product or metrology regulations (clause 7).
• Provide relevant authorities with the power to consider bespoke cost-recovery processes on a product-by-product basis (clause 8).
• Clarify that product and metrology regulations made under the bill could be used to amend or supplement existing product or metrology regulations, where that provision could have been made under the powers in the bill (clause 9).

According to the government, the powers proposed in the bill would enable the UK to:

• address current and future challenges: modern safety issues, the move towards net zero, the use of artificial intelligence and other technological developments
• identify and regulate new and emerging business models in the supply chain, such as online marketplaces, reflecting the challenges of modern digital borders
• tackle non-compliance with product safety and metrology regulations, and target interventions, by allowing greater sharing of data between relevant authorities

The government believes the bill, if enacted, would ensure “the UK is better placed to address modern day safety issues, harness opportunities that deliver economic growth, and ensure a level playing field between the high street and online marketplaces”.   

Current product regulation and metrology framework

While Brexit gave the UK freedom to diverge from EU regulations, in practice it remains largely aligned with the EU. As EU laws change, however, “passive divergence” will occur if UK regulations remain unchanged.

What the bill would change

In the Lords, there was extensive debate on the advantages and disadvantages of alignment with the EU.

According to the government, the bill would ensure UK law could be updated to recognise new or updated EU regulations. The government argued this would mean cost savings for business and would promote regulatory stability. It said decisions on alignment with the EU would be taken on a case-by-case basis, in the light of business and consumer interests.

The opposition argued that the bill would allow greater alignment with the EU, which they opposed on economic and sovereignty grounds.

Delegated powers

Peers were critical of the extent to which delegated powers would be used. The Lords Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee (DPRRC) issued several reports on the bill that criticised the extent to which the bill delegated powers to the government.

The government’s response to the DPRRC in October 2024 noted that it remained “confident” that the delegated powers were “appropriate in the specific policy context” because secondary legislation could provide the necessary technical detail and cover the wide range of consumer and industrial products in scope of the legislation.

The government amended the bill to: specify that more of the regulations made under the bill would be subject to the affirmative procedure; introduce consultation requirements; and remove some of the Henry VIII powers. Henry VIII powers are those that allow secondary legislation to amend or repeal primary legislation.

However, in February 2025, the DPRRC considered that despite these amendments, the government had “not taken the opportunity to add flesh to the bones of this skeleton Bill”.

Range of products covered by the bill

The Lords queried whether certain products could be within the scope of the bill, including chemicals, artificial intelligence (AI), period products, construction products and lithium ion batteries:

• The government said that chemicals “in their raw form” were regulated under REACH regulations, but where chemicals go through a process that “makes it clear the substance is intended for use as a product, e.g. as a cosmetic, such products would be covered by the powers in the bill”.
• The government said that the bill was not intended to regulate AI itself but regulations could apply to products made using, or containing, AI.
• The government clarified that the safety of most period products would fall under The General Product Safety Regulations 2005. Products intended to have a medical or therapeutic use, such as incontinence pads, would be regulated by The Medical Devices Regulations 2002.
• The government said that regulations on the safety of construction products could be made under schedule 11 of the Building Safety Act 2022, but that powers in the bill could be used to regulate construction products.
• The fire risk associated with e-bikes and lithium ion batteries was debated, and Lord Redesdale’s private members’ bill, the Lithium-ion Battery Safety Bill [HL] was highlighted several times. The government explained that there are already strict product safety requirements relating to lithium ion batteries, but that the bill would enable regulations to respond more effectively. In response to peers’ concerns that the bill didn’t cover lithium battery disposal, the government said that “Ministers are referring proposals to consult on reforms to UK battery regulations before setting out next steps” and that “under existing UK legislation it is already mandatory for all batteries placed on the market in the UK to be clearly marked with the crossed-out wheelie bin”.

Lords amendments

The bill was not amended in committee, but a series of government amendments were agreed at report stage, including a new government clause (clause 9) to allow regulations made under the bill to be used to amend or supplement existing product or metrology regulations, where these could have been made under the powers in the bill.

The government also amended the bill to require that more of the regulations made under the bill would be subject to the affirmative procedure in Parliament.