The BMTA recently attended the OPSS Business Accountability Forum (BAF) and the Business Reference Panel (BRP), participating in a roundtable to discuss future changes to toy safety regulations.
Business Accountability Forum
The BAF took place on 19 August online. The meeting comprised an update from Sarah Smith, Deputy CEO OPSS, outlining the current priority activities within OPSS and information about changes since the recent changes in government.
Additionally, the forum heard from Jason Feeney who provided insight into his function as the ‘External’Reviewer’ of OPSS. Jason conducts reviews of complaints received by OPSS and he summarised his findings from his review of the period 2024/25. His findings identified a number of opportunities for improvements that OPSS are actioning.
OPSS also presented the OPSS Delivery Report which was published on its website in August. OPSS has set out its priorities for 2025–26, emphasising its role as the UK’s national product regulator and its commitment to protecting consumers, supporting responsible businesses, and strengthening confidence in the regulatory system.
OPSS now regulates 15 defined product sectors, covering everything from domestic appliances and tech products to cosmetics, toys, machinery, measuring instruments, construction products, and environmental compliance. These sectors represent more than 306,000 UK businesses and more than £525bn in turnover, highlighting the scale and importance of OPSS’s work.
The report reinforces OPSS’s leadership across product safety, legal metrology, standards and accreditation policy, and Primary Authority, with direct links to BSI, UKAS and NPL—areas central to BMTA members. OPSS also delivers enforcement for multiple government departments, including construction products, energy efficiency, environmental regulations, and cyber security for consumer connectable products.
For BMTA, the strengthened sector model and OPSS’s increased focus on risk‑based regulation, scientific capability, and coordinated national enforcement signal growing opportunities for collaboration, influence, and support across the testing and measurement community.
Business Reference Panel
The BRP met on 16 September online. The BRP comprises members from over 250 trade associations and discusses the regulatory landscape, emerging product safety issues, and ensures business voices are heard in policy development.
The panel heard about the new structure within OPSS since the formation of the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) including that the Accreditation Policy Team will be moving from OPSS into the BIST from the 1st October 2026.
A variety of presentations were given including an update on recent OPSS consultations; BMTA is in the process of drafting submissions for the Toy Safety call for evidence and the Fireworks consultations to ensure the views of the UK testing and measurement community are represented.
Representatives from the Building Safety Regulator gave an overview of the work they have undertaken on the topic of ‘competence and standards’ reflecting the work of their Industry Competence Committee. Other presentations were given from HSE, CMA and OPSS on relevant topics of growth, innovation and collaboration.
Finally BIST presented on the Digital Product Records Call for Evidence which has recently closed.
Toy Safety Roundtable
the BMTA was invited to participate in one of the OPSS Roundtable events seeking stakeholder input into the current Toy Safety Call for Evidence that is currently open for input. OPSS is seeking views on the future of toy safety legislation in the UK and whether Great Britain should align with the revised EU Toy Safety Regulations.
There was strong support from many stakeholders in the room for alignment with EU legislation and continuation of the acceptance of CE marked goods. However, with the recent indications that EU NBs can no longer utilise data from laboratories situated on third countries (including the UK) there are significant concerns about the impact on UK laboratories. The BMTA has raised this issue with OPSS and is continuing to seek clarification on this revised position. More information will be communicated in the near future.