Product safety concern
Report a product that may be unsafe, caused injury or damage, or created a near miss. Use the official route for your UK nation as well as any FOLO-UP evidence report.
UK reporting routes
Product safety and non-compliance
Separate an ordinary defect from a possible safety risk, preserve the evidence and use the correct route for a consumer concern, business notification or authority report.
Choose the right route
Who is reporting the unsafe or non-compliant product?
The official reporting route depends on your role. A FOLO-UP report can connect the product, seller, incident and marketplace evidence, but it does not replace a notification that legislation or an authority requires.
Unsafe product notification
Manufacturers, importers, distributors and other suppliers should use the current official guidance to notify the relevant authority about unsafe or non-compliant products.
Market-surveillance report
Market-surveillance and enforcement authorities have a separate OPSS notification process for unsafe and non-compliant products.
Understand the language
Defective, unsafe and non-compliant do not mean the same thing
A defective product may simply fail to work as expected. An unsafe product may expose people to injury or another hazard. A non-compliant product may not meet an applicable requirement involving safety, construction, markings, warnings, documentation or traceability. One product can fall into more than one category, but the description alone is not a technical or legal finding.
Record what you can observe: the exact product and identifiers, who supplied it, what failed, what harm or near miss occurred, and what the packaging, instructions, warnings and marketplace listing showed.
Check whether a notice already exists
Search the product name, brand, model, batch, barcode or official reference. UK records may be described as a product recall, product safety report or product safety alert.
Search product recalls and alerts
Preserve evidence without creating risk
Save labels, markings, model and batch details, instructions, receipts, seller and marketplace information, listing addresses, screenshots and safe photographs. Do not dismantle the product, repeat a failure or continue using it merely to collect evidence.
Common questions
Product safety and non-compliance reporting
What is product safety non-compliance?
Product non-compliance means a product may not meet an applicable legal or technical requirement. Some non-compliance creates a direct safety risk, while other cases concern documentation, markings, warnings, traceability or another requirement. The facts and applicable rules need assessment.
Who should report an unsafe or non-compliant product?
Consumers should use the official product-safety reporting route for their UK nation. Businesses supplying products and market-surveillance authorities have separate official notification guidance. FOLO-UP can capture a detailed product, incident or marketplace signal, but that does not replace a required official notification.
Is every defective product non-compliant or unsafe?
No. A product can have an ordinary quality fault without creating a safety risk, and appearance alone may not establish legal non-compliance. Record the defect, product identifiers and evidence, then use the route appropriate to an ordinary consumer problem, a safety concern or a professional notification.
What evidence supports a product non-compliance report?
Useful evidence can include the product name, brand, model, batch or serial number, markings and labels, instructions and warnings, seller and supply-chain details, listing screenshots, purchase records, test information and a factual account of any failure, injury, damage or near miss.