FOI Request - Face Coverings
Request 101002947128
NB: 'face coverings' below refers to community face coverings and surgical face masks worn outside of healthcare activities, so not those defined as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) or a medical device.
1. Is it true that anyone can set up a business in the UK to make or sell face coverings, without any prior requirement to demonstrate experience or knowledge of textiles or product safety laws to an independent body? If there is a legal requirement, please can you advise the relevant law and section
2. Is it true that face coverings made in the UK are not required to be independently safety tested at the point of manufacture? If there is a legal requirement, please can you advise the relevant law and section
3. Is it true that businesses can import face coverings into the UK from anywhere in the world, without a requirement for the importer to evidence their experience or knowledge of textiles or product safety laws to an independent body? If there is a legal requirement, please can you advise the relevant law and section
4. Is it true that UK retailers are not required to provide trading standards with evidence of the safety of the face coverings they are retailing before they are made available to the public? If there is a legal requirement, please advise the relevant law and section
Only if Trading Standards has not answered questions 1-4, I would be grateful to receive a copy of the records relating to one retailer and one manufacturer where they have provided evidence to Trading Standards, detailing their experience or knowledge of textiles and product safety laws. You may remove the name/address of the business so they are not identifiable
5. In 2020, over 70,000 new companies registered to make or sell face coverings. There has been a rush by businesses to profit from the virus. Noting this and the sudden national need for face coverings, please can you confirm what steps the Council's Trading Standards team took to identify whether any new (and potentially inexperienced) businesses, operating in the area, began manufacturing or retailing face coverings after December 2019
6. Noting that face coverings are associated with a risk of fainting, collapsed lung, cardiac arrest and death when undertaking physical activity (point 5 at Harms from Face Coverings), does consumer protection law require suitable warnings (eg. in regards to physical exercise, driving or use of heavy machinery) to appear on the product?
Only if Trading Standards has not answered question 6, I would be grateful to receive a record of a communication Trading Standards has issued to three Face Covering manufacturers/suppliers regarding the need for Face Coverings to be accompanied by particular warnings or safety instructions. You may remove the name/address of the business so they are not identifiable
7. Please can you provide records (name and address) of local businesses that began manufacturing face coverings for the first time after December 2019 and whether a visit has been undertaken to that business to verify the safety of their face coverings
8. Since April 2020, please can you confirm what actions the Council's Trading Standards team have taken to determine whether face coverings accessible to residents from websites with sellers from outside the European Union (eg. Amazon, Alibaba and eBay etc) are safe?
Only if Trading Standards has not answered question 8, I would be grateful to receive a copy of any advice/warnings the Council has issued to the public about the potential dangers of particular types or brands of face covering or of buying these products from sellers on marketplace websites.
9. Please can you provide records of the number of samples of locally manufactured face coverings that the Council's Trading Standards team has sent for analysis. Please advise the results of that analysis, numbers containing harmful substances; what those substances were; action taken or planned to be taken. (Details of the company under investigation are not necessary, so the information is not protected by the FOIA "commercial secrets" or "criminal investigation" exemptions and may be disclosed). Please provide separate data for the periods April 2020 - March 2021 and April 2021 - present.
10. How many samples of face coverings being locally retailed has the Council's Trading Standards team sent for analysis? Please provide separate data for the periods April 2020 - March 2021 and April 2021 - present.
11. I note that following concerns by the Canadian health authorities, the Spanish Regulator took action regarding the face coverings of concern, suggesting an information exchange between countries. What information has Government provided to the Council about potentially harmful substances that may be contained on face coverings? Please provide a copy of such advice
12. What guidance has Government provided Trading Standards on the necessity to conduct sampling of face coverings or particular substances to test for? Please provide a copy of that information and the date it was provided
13. Since April 2020, what funds have been offered to, and what funds provided to, the Council's Trading Standards team from Government specifically to cover the cost of sampling face coverings?
Only if question 13 has not been answered, please provide a copy of any communications with the words "face covering" or "face mask" in combination with "fund" or "funding" in the same paragraph.
Response 13-01-22
1. Is it true that anyone can set up a business in the UK to make or sell face coverings, without any prior requirement to demonstrate experience or knowledge of textiles or product safety laws to an independent body? If there is a legal requirement, please can you advise the relevant law and section
Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, this information is not held.
2. Is it true that face coverings made in the UK are not required to be independently safety tested at the point of manufacture? If there is a legal requirement, please can you advise the relevant law and section
Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, this information is not held.
3. Is it true that businesses can import face coverings into the UK from anywhere in the world, without a requirement for the importer to evidence their experience or knowledge of textiles or product safety laws to an independent body? If there is a legal requirement, please can you advise the relevant law and section
Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, this information is not held.
4. Is it true that UK retailers are not required to provide trading standards with evidence of the safety of the face coverings they are retailing before they are made available to the public? If there is a legal requirement, please advise the relevant law and section
Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, this information is not held.
Only if Trading Standards has not answered questions 1-4, I would be grateful to receive a copy of the records relating to one retailer and one manufacturer where they have provided evidence to Trading Standards, detailing their experience or knowledge of textiles and product safety laws. You may remove the name/address of the business so they are not identifiable
5. In 2020, over 70,000 new companies registered to make or sell face coverings. There has been a rush by businesses to profit from the virus. Noting this and the sudden national need for face coverings, please can you confirm what steps the Council's Trading Standards team took to identify whether any new (and potentially inexperienced) businesses, operating in the area, began manufacturing or retailing face coverings after December 2019 Nil
6. Noting that face coverings are associated with a risk of fainting, collapsed lung, cardiac arrest and death when undertaking physical activity (point 5 at Harms from Face Coverings), does consumer protection law require suitable warnings (eg. in regards to physical exercise, driving or use of heavy machinery) to appear on the product?
Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, this information is not held.
Only if Trading Standards has not answered question 6, I would be grateful to receive a record of a communication Trading Standards has issued to three Face Covering manufacturers/suppliers regarding the need for Face Coverings to be accompanied by particular warnings or safety instructions. You may remove the name/address of the business so they are not identifiable N/A
7. Please can you provide records (name and address) of local businesses that began manufacturing face coverings for the first time after December 2019 and whether a visit has been undertaken to that business to verify the safety of their face coverings Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, this information is not held.
8. Since April 2020, please can you confirm what actions the Council's Trading Standards team have taken to determine whether face coverings accessible to residents from websites with sellers from outside the European Union (eg. Amazon, Alibaba and eBay etc) are safe? Nil
Only if Trading Standards has not answered question 8, I would be grateful to receive a copy of any advice/warnings the Council has issued to the public about the potential dangers of particular types or brands of face covering or of buying these products from sellers on marketplace websites. N/A
9. Please can you provide records of the number of samples of locally manufactured face coverings that the Council's Trading Standards team has sent for analysis. Please advise the results of that analysis, numbers containing harmful substances; what those substances were; action taken or planned to be taken. (Details of the company under investigation are not necessary, so the information is not protected by the FOIA "commercial secrets" or "criminal investigation" exemptions and may be disclosed). Please provide separate data for the periods April 2020 - March 2021 and April 2021 - present. Nil.
10. How many samples of face coverings being locally retailed has the Council's Trading Standards team sent for analysis? Please provide separate data for the periods April 2020 - March 2021 and April 2021 - present. Nil.
11. I note that following concerns by the Canadian health authorities, the Spanish Regulator took action regarding the face coverings of concern, suggesting an information exchange between countries. What information has Government provided to the Council about potentially harmful substances that may be contained on face coverings? Please provide a copy of such advice Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, this information is not held.
12. What guidance has Government provided Trading Standards on the necessity to conduct sampling of face coverings or particular substances to test for? Please provide a copy of that information and the date it was provided Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, this information is not held.
13. Since April 2020, what funds have been offered to, and what funds provided to, the Council's Trading Standards team from Government specifically to cover the cost of sampling face coverings? Under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, this information is not held.
Only if question 13 has not been answered, please provide a copy of any communications with the words "face covering" or "face mask" in combination with "fund" or "funding" in the same paragraph. N/A