Services for Business

Durham County Council Trading Standards provides advice to County Durham businesses on all areas of trading standards legislation, including weights and measures, food labelling, safety and credit. Through impartial advice and consistent enforcement, we ensure that honest traders are not placed at a commercial disadvantage. This may be because competitors' goods are misdescribed, counterfeit or dangerous, or because competitors use overloaded vehicles.

If you are a new business and/or would like advice from us on consumer or trading law you can register your business online.

If, however, your company is based outside County Durham, you should firstly contact the Trading Standards department where you are based (your home authority).

All businesses are also able to access 'Ask Cedric' - an online Trading Standards service for business. This has been created by Trading Standards professionals to provide businesses with a free one-stop web site for all their business needs.

Services which we ourselves provide and may be of particular interest to business are detailed below:-

• Calibration
• Compositional Analysis
• Food/Feeding Stuffs Labelling
• Average Weight
• Credit
• Safety

Calibration

Our laboratory provides a wide range of calibration services. For further information on all our services including guidance leaflets, please contact Phillip Newman on:
Telephone : 0191 383 4250
Fax : 0191 383 4234

Compositional Analysis

Contact Scientific Services for all your compositional needs. Nationally recognised for excellence.

Food/Feeding Stuffs Labelling

Durham County Council Trading Standards can give advice and guidance to businesses on food and agricultural feeding stuffs labelling. We would rather you spoke to us when drawing up a label, instead of finding problems later on. Contact us on 0191 3833706 .

Average Weight

We can give you advice, both on the requirements of the Average Weight system and on your checking procedures. We can visit your factory to examine your due diligence system and advise you on improvements. Contact us on 0191 3833705.

Credit

We are able to ensure credit advertisements prior to publication to assess compliance with the requirements of the Consumer Credit Act. For further information speak to Craig Hudson on 0191 383 3707.

Safety

We can give advice on a wide range of consumer safety legislation, covering such matters as furniture, toys and electrical products. Advice is also available on The Electromagnetic Compatibility, The Low Voltage, The Construction Products, The Personal Protective Equipment and The Machinery Regulations. For further information contact Steve Bilton on 0191 383 4236.

The above examples are a small range of the areas of Trading Standards legislation upon which we can give you advice and guidance.

Leaflets

Click here for a full list of trader and consumer advice leaflets which we can provide (some of which are downloadable online).

You can see guidance on the new Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002 which came into force on 31 March 2003 and set a minimum baseline for consumers' rights across Member States. Please note that this will open an Adobe Acrobat file on the DTI website.

Our Scientific Services department can provide analytical testing and advice services to manufacturers.

County Durham Registered Trader Scheme

A County Durham Registered Trader Scheme has been set up to help consumers choose reputable tradesmen to carry out wotk on their homes. If you would like to join this scheme details can be found on the Registered Trader scheme website.