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The Trading Standards Service is provided in Britain by local authorities. In Medway, the service is provided by the Medway Council Trading Standards Team.
Its role is to ensure that businesses compete in a fair and safe manner, ensuring benefits for both consumers and legitimate traders. Individual consumers would find it hard to influence businesses about their conduct. For this reason, consumer protection legislation makes sure goods and services are correctly described and any prices quoted are not misleading.
Historically, the role stems from the function of the Inspector of Weights and Measures. The testing of weighing and measuring equipment still forms a cornerstone of the profession but the role has expanded dramatically since the late 1960s. The functions vary slightly across the country but as an example, Medway Trading Standards Team enforces over 40 separate acts of Parliament and 1,000 sets of regulations.
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