About Trading Standards

We protect the public and honest businesses from rogue traders and illegal practices.

• Consumers have a right to receive value for money
• Traders and businesses should not face unfair competition from those operating outside the law

We enforce a wide range of laws on the supply and distribution of goods and services.

We aim to:

• deliver an effective, efficient and high quality service
• to improve and protect public health
• protect local communities
• support the local economy

See the Joint Black Country Regulators Operating Framework.

Our services include:

• Free advice to consumers through Citizens Advice Consumer Service
• Warning the public about scams, unsafe goods and unfair trading practices
• Advice to traders
• Inspections at local businesses
• Working with partner organisations such as the police, HMRC, Citizen Advice Consumer Service and National Trading Standards to provide consumer protection and advice
• Investigating complaints and criminal offences and taking action (including prosecution) in accordance with our enforcement policy
• Enforcing government legislation to ensure people obey the law
• Publishing a prosecution register

• Problems with goods supplied and services carried out by a trader
• Doorstep crime and rogue traders
• Gathering information on scams and issuing relevant warnings
• Safety of consumer goods
• Fales or misleading descriptions of goods, prices, services and property
• Product counterfeiting and copyright
• Matters concerning sales by weight or measure - such as petrol deliveries, sales of fruit and vegetables, and sales of material
• Age restricted sales - such as tobacco products, alcohol, solvents, knives, and fireworks
• Illegal or illicit tobacco

• Give advice to local traders on which consumer protection laws apply to them and how they can stay within the law
• With the Citizens Advice Consumer Service, give free advice to consumers on their legal rights when buying goods or services
• Record all enquiries and use the information to identify the issues of most concern to local residents and businesses. This is a vital part of our intelligence gathering work
• Investigate complaints and prosecute traders that are not complying with trading standards laws
• If the trader involved is based outside Dudley Borough or our investigations reveal that potential offences have been committed outside this area, we will pass the details to the trader's local Trading Standards team to deal with as they see fit
• If we are dealing with your complaint, we will keep you informed and contact you when the investigation is over

Dudley Trading Standards cannot:

• Take civil court action on your behalf
• Demand refunds, replacements or apologies from traders or close them down
• Pursue a complaint where there is no legally valid reason
• Give out complaint information on a trader or any other information not already in the public domain
• Provide an opinion on the quality of goods or a trader's quality of service
• Help with enquires about industries that have their own Regulators or Ombudsman Schemes to deal with complaints - such as insurance, telecommunications, utility companies
• Help with questions about personal injuries or the sale of land or property
• Deal with matters on food standards, food safety, hygiene and quality. These are dealt with by colleagues in Dudley Environmental Health
• Offer businesses contractual advice

We rely on information from members of the public, businesses and organisations to catch criminals who trade in illegal goods and use scams to target vulnerable people.

We need you to tell is about:

• The sale of counterfeit or illegally-imported tobacco and cigarettes
• Traders calling on vulnerable people to offer gardening, roofing and driveway work, etc
• Supplying counterfeit goods
• Traders exploiting vulnerable people by selling them over priced or misdescribed goods or services
• Traders supplying age restricted products, such as tobacco, alcohol, knives, fireworks to children
• Illegal money lending activity, known as loan sharks (matter will be passed to the national Illegal Money Lending team)

You can provide information on the issues listed above by contacting the Citizens Advice Consumer Service (CACS) or via our online reporting form.

Please note : the online reporting form is for reporting and information gathering purposes only in relation to the issues listed above. Any information will be used for intelligence purposes and further investigation if necessary, and we may not provide any further response to you.

Do not use the online reporting form if you need advice or for making a consumer complaint. If you need advice or wish to make a consumer complaint, please contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Service.