Almost one year on from the Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 receiving Royal Assent on 21 July 2025, the rapid rise of online marketplaces and the consumer safety risks that can come with them remain a live concern.

For the last few years, we have been vocal about the risks created by online marketplaces and the legislative lag that has allowed unsafe and non-compliant products to reach UK consumers too easily.

For too long, they have operated in a regulatory gap, often avoiding clear, direct responsibility for unsafe or non-compliant third-party products sold through their platforms. This route to market has enabled substandard and sometimes dangerous products to be sold in the UK, particularly where sellers are based overseas and there is no clear domestic point of accountability.

This issue is hard to contain when regulators and enforcement bodies such as the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), local authority Trading Standards services and, in relevant workplace contexts, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), do not have the resources or funding to police the market effectively.

In 2021/22, OPSS data found that 81% of the 2,260 products it targeted for testing from online marketplaces were non-compliant. Since then, the risks have evolved significantly.

AI now raises risks where bad actors can use AI tools to create convincing listings at scale, generate product descriptions that appear compliant, clone branding and technical claims, and relist products quickly after enforcement action. That can make both detection and sustained enforcement more challenging.

The UK Government looked to address these issues. The Act was presented as an important step towards modernising the UK’s product safety framework and strengthening the tools available to regulators.

However, the important point is that the Act is not, by itself, a comprehensive   marketplace safety regime, it is primarily a framework that provides the legal basis for  secondary legislation to specifically address issues. 

The Act creates the powers and scope, but many of the practical, day-to-day obligations that would change how products are controlled on online marketplaces will depend on the content and commencement of the secondary legislation, and on how it  is implemented and enforced in practice.

There are government consultations ongoing until the 23^rd of June 2026, where the government is then expected to publish a response and bring forward secondary legislation, which suggests significant reforms are on the horizon.

So, are consumers any safer today compared to a year ago?

In legal architecture, the UK has moved forward. In practical marketplace accountability, the answer is less clear. Until the new duties are finalised, commenced and properly enforced, it is fair to say that little has changed for consumers at present.

Nick Jackman is account director at Brand Potential. For more information, visit www.brandpotential.com/