The way people buy products changed faster than the legal framework built around traditional shops and supply chains. Parliament’s Product Regulation and Metrology Act 2025 gives ministers powers to update product requirements, including rules affecting people who control or act as intermediaries for online marketplaces.
The Act is a foundation, not the finished system
The legislation allows future regulations to address how products are marketed online, what information accompanies them, who keeps records, how complaints are investigated and how businesses cooperate with authorities. It does not mean every proposed duty appeared automatically on Royal Assent.
In March 2026 the government opened companion consultations on a new product-safety framework and on market surveillance and enforcement. The product-safety consultation grouped proposals around supply-chain accountability, product information, enforcement support and modernised core rules. It closed on 23 June 2026.
The practical question is no longer only whether government has the power to regulate marketplaces. It is what duties, checks and enforcement mechanisms the resulting regulations will contain.
Why online marketplace responsibility matters
Consumer and safety organisations have repeatedly found products that fail testing or appear to breach UK requirements while being sold by third-party sellers. Marketplaces can control the interface, collect seller and product data, rank listings and remove content. Product-safety reform tests how those capabilities translate into legal responsibility.
Important details include seller traceability, the product information a shopper sees before purchase, proactive monitoring, response times after a safety signal, evidence retention and the powers available to enforcement bodies.
What has not yet been established
A consultation proposal is not final law. Until the government publishes its response and the relevant regulations are made, coverage should distinguish clearly between powers already enacted, proposals consulted upon and obligations currently in force.
As of 6 September 2026, the GOV.UK consultation page was marked closed. We found no published government response on that page. This explainer will be updated when the formal response or implementing regulations appear.
Why Unsafe Products will keep following it
Stories about unsafe listings often end with a platform removing the particular page. Regulation determines whether the system changes before the next near-identical product appears. We will track the government response, draft regulations, enforcement powers and evidence from consumer groups—without presenting proposals as settled duties.
For individual product records, use the FOLO-UP UK recall finder. This publication follows the wider story behind the rules and the marketplaces.