The Approved Cables Initiative (ACI) has warned that more budget cuts to the Trading Standards Institute will allow an influx of dangerous and counterfeit electrical goods to enter the country.

An announcement from Trading Standards reporting the same view sparked the ACI to repeat the message with their own warning. With budgets set to be cut by an average of 40%, ACI believe this means that the predictions for an influx of counterfeit goods will include non-conforming electrical cables.

The problem of counterfeit cables is not a new one however, and is something ACI have been campaigning against for some years, alongside Trading Standards and other groups.

The issue of cuts to the Trading Standards budget by the Government and the problems this may cause was first highlighted through the Trading Standards Workforce Survey. In it they reported that by 2016 most Trading Standards services in England and Wales will have been cut and some will have been stopped completely. This, it is said, will have a detrimental effect on consumer safety, rights and the health of legitimate businesses.

ACI  have worked with Trading Standards for a number of years to draw attention to the problem of counterfeit cables in the UK market and believe that these cuts mean that their efforts to continuously eliminate dangerous counterfeit cables will not be given the same service dedication as it currently gets, thus allowing further dangerous cables to enter the market.

ACI also said that the planned cuts only serve to add justification to their campaign for legislation change, to protect the cable supply industry and the public from counterfeit products. This campaign is calling for changes to current rules to mean that only cables that comply with British, European and International standards and carry third party certification are allowed to be sold in the UK.

Both ACI and Trading Standards believe that without a change to current legislation, there will be an increase in these kinds of counterfeit cables entering the UK consumer market.

Leon Livermore, CEO of Trading Standards, said that the Institute is a watchdog for consumers and businesses and that the nature of their business often means that the value of such a service is overlooked until that service is no longer available.

A spokesman from ACI said that they are baffled as to where consumers will go when Trading Standards services are no longer available.

Written by Sara Thomson