Should I search a Trading Standards recall list or the current OPSS site?

What changed when OPSS launched the new site in 2022?

On 7 April 2022 OPSS published a news story and a new Product Recalls and Alerts hub. The consumer list behind it is Product Safety Alerts, Reports and Recalls. The launch note said the pages were built so the public could search previously recalled or reported products, filter by category, risk, measure, date and alert type, and subscribe to updates. Which? and RoSPA welcomed that launch at the time.

The later authority guidance (Version 11, updated 13 May 2026) is blunt about the job of that website: OPSS owns it "to enable a single, national product safety and recalls website for UK MSAs". Market-surveillance authorities — including local Trading Standards — fulfil their duty to inform the public by publishing through that site, after OPSS validates the notification.

Official records show one national public list, hosted on GOV.UK, fed by notifications that local authorities and OPSS file on the PSD. Official records do not show a second, current consumer search box branded "Trading Standards" that replaces it.

If they are not the search box, what do Trading Standards still do?

They remain a market-surveillance authority. The PSD annual report describes the database as the system used by local-authority Trading Standards (or environmental health in Northern Ireland), certain national regulators and OPSS teams. Many published notices still say Notified by: Local Authority Trading Standards in the footer — the ASDA handbags recall and the TikTok candle-warmer lamp both do.

If you need to report a product that has caused injury or damage, that is a different GOV.UK form, signed from the same hub. Reporting is not the same as searching.

Why does Which? still say "the Trading Standards website"?

Habit, and older deep links. Which?’s 11 August 2026 pushchair piece still says you can check recalls "by visiting the Trading Standards website". The 31 October 2025 second-hand round-up says search the product name plus the word "recall", or contact the manufacturer. Both habits can land you on a local-authority page that still points at an older CTSI list, or on a retailer blog that copied the pre-2022 route.

Those Which? articles remain useful for physical checks on a used pushchair — brakes, fold, harness, the BS EN 1888 stamp. They are not the current address of the national notice list. For the stamp itself, use the label hunt. For the notice, use GOV.UK.

Correcting the URL is not a criticism of Which?’s lab work. It is a date check: the consumer list Which? welcomed in April 2022 is the page to open in 2026.

What should I open instead of a local Trading Standards recall page?

1. 1
   Use the national public list Open Product Safety Alerts, Reports and Recalls. Search the brand or model code. Filter if the keyword box is noisy.
2. 2
   Read the footer, do not change website If the notice says it was notified by local-authority Trading Standards, that is the source of the case. The page you are already on is the publication.
3. 3
   Use MayTally only as a baby-kit shortcut The safety lookup searches a hand-picked set of official OPSS notices and shows the official wording. It is not a second Trading Standards database and it does not hold every notice.
4. 4
   Keep "product + recall" as a backup, not the first stop A web search can still surface a maker’s own notice. Confirm it against the GOV.UK page. A blog that only says "Trading Standards have recalled" without a PSD number is not the record.

If my council’s site has no recall, has the product been cleared?

No. A quiet local page often means that council is not running a public catalogue — and, since 2022, it is not supposed to be the national one. An empty GOV.UK search is a different fact: no published notice matched your words. That is still not a clearance, and it is not proof the PSD has no file. The PSD versus public list explainer covers that gap.

In shortTrading Standards still enforce and notify. OPSS still publishes. The search box that matches that split is the GOV.UK list. A local or CTSI page with no hit is not an all-clear.

Is this the page for checking a used pushchair?

No. This page only corrects which website is the public notice list. Which? and RoSPA still tell you to look for the BS EN 1888 (or older BS 7409) mark and to run a recall search as a separate step. The mark hunt is Find the BS EN 1888 label on a used pushchair. This article will not walk the frame, wheels or harness.