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Trading Standards business advice

How we can help you with a wide range of consumer laws and keeping livestock.

How we can help you

Trading Standards offers business advice on a variety of consumer laws including metrology, product safety, food labelling, website compliance, statutory information and keeping livestock.

We have officers experienced in Trading Standards law who can answer your questions efficiently and quickly. We will provide you with clear information free of jargon. 

We also work closely with our colleagues at Fire and Rescue and we can put you in touch with them for advice.

For advice and guidance, use the Business Companion as your first call.

Business against scams

Help to protect and prevent businesses from becoming victims of scams.

Advice to businesses - COVID-19

The Government has some useful guidance for business;

If you have a specific query on the legislation, please contact your local district council Environmental Health or Trading Standards on 01865 895999

Joint working with Cherwell District Council

We offer an enhanced range of services through joint working with Cherwell District Council which provides support to aid compliance with food hygiene, health and safety and other environmental health laws.

We are also offer joined up Primary Authority arrangements and food shelf life testing. This service is open to all Oxfordshire businesses.

Cherwell District Council also offer food hygiene and health & safety online and taught courses.

Here is the latest joint business newsletter that Cherwell District Council has produced with our contribution.

We have a Joint Business Advice Policy (pdf format, 67Kb) with Cherwell District Council. 

Initial business advice

We offer free basic initial advice to signpost you to the best sources of information. If you require more bespoke, tailored advice, we offer this at a competitive rate.

Regular advice

If you are looking for help on a more regular basis and require advice that can be relied on (assured advice), then a primary authority agreement may be better for you. Please refer to our fees and charges (pdf format, 163Kb) for prices.

Fees and charges

Check our fees and charges (pdf format, 56Kb). All prices are subject to VAT at 20 per cent except licences.

Weights and measures testing

We offer an efficient, customer-focused and cost-effective testing service, not only to businesses but also to local authorities and enforcement agencies. 

We can test various types of weighing and measuring equipment and issue certificates of accuracy traceable to National Standards.

Examples include:

  • most types of weights (ranging from 1mg to 25kg) accuracy class M1
  • weighing machines from shop and medical scales to weighbridges
  • commercial brake testers
  • fishing scales
  • measuring tapes/horse measuring sticks
  • proving tanks
  • liquid fuel measures.

We can offer on-site testing of equipment for a wide range of customers from small shops to large manufacturers.

Certified weights are also available for hire up to 2 tonne.

Check our fees and charges (pdf format, 163Kb).

Equipment verification

We are a notified body for non-automatic weighing instruments and assess conformity to EU-type examination certificate based on product verification.

We are a notified body for fuel dispenser measuring Instruments and assess conformity to EU-type examination certificate based on instrument verification.

We are a notified body for automatic catchweighers and assess conformity to EU-type examination certificate based on instrument verification.

Check our fees and charges (pdf format, 163Kb).

Allergy labelling changes for prepacked for direct sale foods Oct 2021

Prepacked for direct sale or PPDS is food which is packaged at the same place it is offered or sold to consumers and is in this packaging before it is ordered or selected.

The requirements for prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) food labelling will change in Wales, England, and Northern Ireland on 1 October 2021. The new labelling protects your consumers by providing potentially life-saving allergen information on the packaging.

Any business that produces PPDS food will be required to label it with the name of the food and a full ingredients list, with allergenic ingredients emphasised within the list.

Use the food labelling tool to help you to label your food

Allergen training video

Trading Standards Oxfordshire and Environmental Health have created a free allergen training video for small businesses that operate in Oxfordshire. It is aimed at small to medium-sized food businesses and will help them understand what they need to know about how to comply with allergen legal requirements including Natasha’s Law.

The hour-long vide the following areas:

  • The background to the law
  • The 14 allergens
  • What Prepacked for Direct Sale (PPDS) foods must be labelled with
  • PPDS defined and helpful tools
  • Distance selling - online and telephone sales
  • Small packages - e.g. ketchup, sweet and sour sauce etc.
  • Cross-contamination
  • Scenarios and examples
  • Multipacks - breaking from bulk

FSA launches new tool to help businesses assess food crime risks

Food businesses can use a new online tool to assess their vulnerability to food crime.

The Food Fraud Resilience Self-Assessment Tool guides food business owners and employees through a series of questions designed to help them identify the risk to their business from food crime, and outlines steps that they can take to mitigate this. Businesses can complete this anonymously or choose to share their details with the FSA to receive tailored advice and support.

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