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Journal of Trading Standards, Online Edition - JoTS Online

Welcome to the Journal of Trading Standards online edition, JoTS Online. Browse through our latest Articles - including Analysis, Opinion Pieces, Features and a selection of articles from our acclaimed print journal.

Although many JoTS Online articles are open access (public), others are exclusive to CTSI Members - in which case, you'll need to login to access them. If you aren't a member of CTSI yet, you can join us here. And, if you'd like to contribute articles or suggest topics for us to cover, please email our Editorial Team.

Latest JoTS Online Articles : 

News Category Tags: Crime, Product Safety, Health and Safety, Counterfeit Goods, Retail, Animal Health and Welfare, Legal and Policy, Enforcement Practice, Product Recalls, Property and Housing, Automotive, Vapes, Business, CTSI Conference, CTSI Hero Awards.

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Touchstone Award seeks nominees

Posted: 04 April 2022

UPDATES: Nominations are open for this year's Touchstone Award, celebrating outstanding hallmarking enforcement, education and innovation. The article explains the judging criteria, eligible activities, prizes and how trading standards professionals can submit entries before the closing date.
 

CTSI makes senior appointments

Posted: 01 April 2022

UPDATES: CTSI has strengthened its senior leadership team with the appointments of Riyad Islam as Director of Finance and Corporate Services and Duncan Stephenson as Director of Policy and Public Affairs, outlining the experience and priorities both bring to their new roles.
 

Fighting the good fight

Posted: 23 March 2022

ANALYSIS: As trading standards faces shrinking resources and expanding responsibilities, leading voices from across the profession examine how its adaptability can remain a strength without diluting professional identity, exploring leadership, resilience, partnership working and the future direction of the service.
 

Interview: Professor Kathy Hamilton

Posted: 22 March 2022

ANALYSIS: Consumer vulnerability is shaped by far more than age or income. Professor Kathy Hamilton discusses transformative consumer research, the social and structural factors that create vulnerability, and how this evidence can help trading standards develop more effective, consumer-centred interventions.
 

Speaking out for consumers

Posted: 22 March 2022

ANALYSIS: Seventy years after its creation, the Consumer Public Interest Network continues to champion the consumer voice in standards development. This feature explores its evolving priorities, the role of volunteer representatives and why meaningful consumer involvement remains central to better standards.
 

Obituary: Graham John Morgan

Posted: 14 March 2022

UPDATES: Colleagues remember Graham John Morgan as a thoughtful public servant, respected Derbyshire trading standards leader and devoted family man whose career spanned Gloucestershire, Newcastle, Manchester and Derbyshire, and whose legacy includes the county’s Trusted Trader scheme.
 

Operation CeCe celebrates success

Posted: 10 March 2022

UPDATES: Operation CeCe’s first year saw NTS, HMRC, Border Force and local trading standards remove more than £7m of illegal tobacco from sale, disrupt organised crime and secure continued funding for a three-tier enforcement strategy targeting factories, borders and street-level sellers.
 

Green energy guide launched

Posted: 08 March 2022

UPDATES: A new Business Companion guide aims to help green energy installers meet consumer protection duties, understand accreditation and raise standards as net zero policy, public funding and demand for competent low-carbon home improvements accelerate sector growth.
 

FCA cracks down on investment scams

Posted: 03 March 2022

UPDATES: FCA data shows investment scam enquiries rose sharply in 2021, with cryptoassets, boiler rooms and recovery room fraud prominent, as the regulator promotes ScamSmart and InvestSmart and steps up action against unauthorised and high-risk firms.
 

CTSI speaks to BEIS Committee

Posted: 01 March 2022

UPDATES: CTSI used a BEIS Committee evidence session on post-pandemic economic growth to highlight consumer rights awareness, the economic role of consumer protection, the value of UKICC and the pressure placed on local trading standards by a decade of cuts.
 

Caution urged on imperial markings

Posted: 25 February 2022

UPDATES: CTSI is urging caution over any return to imperial markings, warning that changes to weights and measures could add business costs, confuse consumers and place further enforcement demands on trading standards services already weakened by long-term budget cuts.
 

Obituary: Archie Mitchell

Posted: 22 February 2022

UPDATES: Colleagues remember Archibald Mackenzie Mitchell as a respected Scottish trading standards leader, metrologist and mentor whose five-decade career spanned local government, professional service and lasting friendships across the Institute.
 

Rising costs 'threat to consumers'

Posted: 22 February 2022

UPDATES: CTSI warns that rising energy bills, inflation and post-pandemic pressures could sharply increase consumer vulnerability, creating fertile ground for loan sharks, energy mis-selling and other scams unless the UK strengthens its consumer protection strategy.
 

CMA targets online rip-offs

Posted: 14 February 2022

UPDATES: The CMA’s Online Rip-off Tip-off campaign aims to help consumers recognise and report hidden charges, subscription traps, fake reviews and pressure-selling tactics as misleading online practices become harder to spot.
 

Consumer protection must be ‘levelled up’

Posted: 14 February 2022

UPDATES: CTSI is pressing for consumer protection to be central to the UK Government’s post-Brexit regulatory agenda, warning that legislative freedoms must not erode standards or create fresh risks for consumers and businesses.
 

IPO launches new strategy

Posted: 07 February 2022

SPONSORED: The IPO’s five-year counter-infringement strategy sets out a more coordinated approach to IP crime, built around partnership, leadership, education and a 4Ps framework linking Trading Standards, Border Force, police, industry and government.
 

CTSI sings praises of apprenticeships

Posted: 07 February 2022

UPDATES: National Apprenticeship Week gives CTSI a platform to promote Regulatory Compliance Officer apprenticeships as a practical route into trading standards, broadening recruitment, supporting local authorities and aligning early training with professional competency standards.
 

Valentine’s Day scams warning

Posted: 01 February 2022

UPDATES: CTSI is warning Valentine’s Day shoppers and online daters to watch for romance fraud, fake getaways and pop-up gift scams, as pandemic isolation and rising use of dating platforms continue to fuel losses.
 

Consumerism vs. climate catastrophe

Posted: 31 January 2022

OPINION: Consumer protection should defend fairness and confidence without encouraging a culture of endless consumption. A reflection on COP26, buyer remorse and Alastair Campbell’s awkward Watchdog provocation asks where consumer justice ends and consumerism begins.
 

Mail scammers impersonate CTSI

Posted: 26 January 2022

UPDATES: Fraudsters are circulating letters that misuse CTSI branding to promote a bogus compensation scheme, asking recipients to submit personal details through a fake creditors debt form. CTSI warns that the scam has spread beyond England and urges anyone receiving the letter to contact the Financial Conduct Authority.