Eight months after the EU's new General Product Safety Regulation came into force, the UK has new product safety laws. We take a look at the new law and what it means for product regulation, the UK-EU relationship and internal UK relationship, and what you should expect next.
What is the PRAM Act and how does it fit into existing law?
UK product law
The UK government saw leaving the European Union ('EU') as an opportunity to modernise and simplify the existing product safety (and wider regulatory) framework, not least it wished to address various gaps in the law particularly around the duties of online marketplaces.
In August 2023, the Office for Product Safety and Standards ('OPSS') published the UK product safety review that outlined a raft of proposals. Some of these would go towards ensuring we did not diverge with the EU. For example, with the UK (except Northern Ireland) not being bound by the EU General Product Safety Regulation 2023 ('EU GPSR'), Great Britain was already lagging behind on specifically regulating online marketplaces.
Other proposals were much more wholesale and had the potential to be a complete divergence; there was a suggestion (albeit not a detailed one) that regulatory requirements could be more closely linked to the risk of the product in question, suggesting a move away from product definitions e.g. toys.
Consistent feedback throughout this review was that UK businesses valued harmonisation with EU law, with many selling cross border and needing to account for the newly separate regimes. This is something the government itself recognised in granting the indefinite extension to the use of CE marking on certain products.
The PRAM Act accounts for this feedback. It was first announced in the King's Speech in July 2024, marking the start of a UK-EU relationship 'reset'.
PRAM Act
What the PRAM Act is not is wholesale change to the underlying law and position. At first glance you may be disappointed by the limited content, but that is deliberate. The PRAM Act is intended to be a framework which allows the Secretary of State ('SoS') to make regulations on product law in the UK, and where needed, harmonising and providing consistency for other areas.
It is broad, allowing regulations to be created under it to address a range of topics, for example:
- for the purpose of reducing or mitigating:
risks presented by products; and
the environmental impact of products.
- to allow for product requirements (which must be met for a product to be marketed or used in the UK) in relation to:
marketing of products via online marketplaces;
provision of information to consumers and authorities; and
the making of statements about products.
- Metrology, albeit with limitation such as not being able to make regulations to restrict the use of 'pint' for certain beverages.
Unsurprisingly, the PRAM Act allows for the SoS to impose product requirements on a range of supply chain actors, with the specific addition of online marketplaces and those who control them.
It is key to note that with the PRAM Act becoming law, there is no immediate impact on any actor within the product supply chain, or on the existing body of product regulation. It remains the case that businesses should comply with product category specific law (e.g. The Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011), accounting for the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 and EU GPSR in Northern Ireland.
However, there is no doubt the PRAM Act anticipates change. The PRAM Act allows the UK to make provisions corresponding or similar to the EU in relation to mitigating environmental impact of products. It will even allow for regulations "that a product requirement is treated as met if a requirement of relevant EU law specified in product regulations is met". Given we saw an indefinite extension of the use of CE marking, we will await to see how broadly this power will be used and how popular it will be for those trading across both the EU and UK.
It certainly will not be smooth sailing in terms of process. A recent addition to the PRAM Act before its Royal Assent was a clause with the aim of ensuring devolution powers are not ignored. With a consult and consent mechanism, where a regulation is made within the Scottish, Welsh, or NI devolved competence, this can only be made "with the consent of the [Welsh Ministers/relevant NI department/Scottish Ministers], unless the provision is merely incidental to, or consequential on, provision outside [Welsh/Scottish/NI] devolved competence."
The previous UK Government received heavy criticism for essentially overriding devolved powers with the United Kingdom Internal Markets Act. The PRAM Act could be seen as somewhat of a reset- not only for the UK-EU relationship, but also the UK internal market relationships.
The efficiency of this consult and consent mechanism will depend on how often the powers of the PRAM Act will be called upon to create new legislation; if we attempt to keep up with EU regulation, this will be a lot. In any case, regulating will not be an 'automatic' process allowing for quick alignment - the SoS has a duty to consult persons they consider appropriate before regulating, and must follow the process for creating statutory instruments.
Enforcement
The PRAM Act is comprehensive, not only allowing for regulation on the 'sale' side, but also on how the regulations are enforced. Relevant authorities can be designated as enforcer, with fairly standard powers such as to enter, inspect and search premises. Under the product safety review, the OPSS' proposals suggested a move towards OPSS enforcement over local trading standards enforcement. We will need to wait and see underlying statutory instruments to see if there is such a move being made; OPSS already enforce product law where a matter is nationally significant, novel, or significantly contentious.
What next?
Whether you are a product manufacturer or an online marketplace with minimal 'touchpoints' with a product, you need to be alert for consultations/draft statutory instruments that will start to put the 'meat on the bone' of the frameworks. The first of these is expected soon and is likely to demonstrate how far the UK is intending to push its change agenda. It is strongly recommended that you ensure that your voice is heard during any consultation processes.
We already know online marketplaces are a priority. The OPSS has made this clear since the product safety review in 2023 (and earlier in a 2021 call for evidence). Most recently, an 'Online Marketplace Research' session was held by OPSS on 7 July 2025 in anticipation of regulating this area more quickly. This focus was confirmed by the press release announcing the PRAM Act's Royal Assent Tough new laws to make online marketplaces safer - GOV.UK which noted:
"To help address the sale of unsafe products like these by online marketplaces, the Government intends to introduce requirements for online marketplaces at the earliest opportunity to update their responsibilities.
These will create a proportionate regulatory framework where online marketplaces are expected to:
- prevent unsafe products from being made available to consumers
- ensure that sellers operating on their platform comply with product safety obligations
- provide relevant information to consumers;
- and cooperate closely with regulators."
Though we lack detail, this goes some way to what is already in place in the EU, but the key will be in ensuring that these rules do not go significantly further to 'level the playing field' when in reality it just makes it harder to sell online.
