Catalogue description Department of Prices and Consumer Protection and successors: Fair Trading Division and successors, Consumer Safety Unit: Registered Files (CSU Series)

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Details of JF 1
Reference: JF 1
Title: Department of Prices and Consumer Protection and successors: Fair Trading Division and successors, Consumer Safety Unit: Registered Files (CSU Series)
Description:

This series contains files of the Consumer Safety Unit within the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection (DPCP) and the Department of Trade. Some files are inherited from the Home Office (HO) and there has been much re-registration from prefixes HSY and MSC. The files relate to safety issues concerning products as various as, for example, aerosols, asbestos, baby harnesses, oil heaters, solvents and skateboards. Also covered is the Consumer Protection Act 1961. The series also contains papers of the Standing Interdepartmental Committee on Accidents in the Home and of the Advisory Committee on Household Electrical Equipment.
Date: 1959-1982
Related material:

See also:

For records of the Prices and Incomes Divisions: Division within FV

For files on Home Office consumer protection policy HO 342

For Home Office files on home safety: HO 381

For further Home Office files on consumer safety, earlier papers of the Committee on Accidents in the Home BT 223
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Former reference in its original department: CSU file series
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Department of Prices and Consumer Protection, Fair Trading Division, 1974-1979

Department of Trade, Competition Policy and Service Industries Division, 1983-1983

Department of Trade, Metrology, Quality Assurance, Safety and Standards Division, 1979-1982

Home Office, 1782-
Physical description: 45 file(s)
Access conditions: Subject to 30 year closure
Accumulation dates: 1976
Administrative / biographical background:

From 1 October 1974, the Home Office transferred to the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection (DPCP) its responsibility for:

  • 1) Home safety and safety of consumer goods, including the making of regulations under the Consumer Protection Act 1961.
  • 2) Fire hazards in consumer goods.
  • 3) Safety matters relating to the sale of fireworks.

The aim of the transfer was to continue the bringing together of the administration of the government's interests in consumer affairs.

The staff transferred from the Home Office formed Branch 3D of the DPCP's existing Fair Trading Division, which was already responsible for general competition policy and consumer protection (other than weights and measures and consumer credit).

By May 1975, the creation of a fourth branch within the Fair Trading Division led to the loss of section B from Branch 3, and to Branch 3D becoming Branch 3C, but without any change in its responsibilities. In 1977 a Consumer Safety Unit (CSU) was established within Branch 3.

With the amalgamation of the Departments of Trade and of Prices and Consumer Protection in 1979, the Consumer Safety Unit became part of the Metrology, Quality Assurance, Safety and Standards Division (MQS).

In May 1982, the MQS was disbanded and the CSU became part of the Competition Policy, Tourism and Other Services Division (CTS). Later in 1982 the division was renamed the Competition Policy and Service Industries Division when its responsibilities for tourism were transferred to another division. The following year it was renamed the Competition Policy, Consumer Credit and Safety Division in the newly reformed Department of Trade and Industry.

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