The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is marking its first anniversary by launching new research into the reasons why many consumers don’t register their household products, and what more can be done to boost rates.

Registering products enables manufactures to more quickly contact customers if a fault occurs and could improve the long-term reliability of appliances if an issue has been identified or a product is recalled. At present, less than a third of people have registered their large appliances according to the Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances (AMDEA).

OPSS wants to better understand the reasons why some people do not register their devices in order to develop mechanisms to improve rates. Ideas such as making registration mandatory will be tested on almost 5,000 product purchases.

Following the research, manufacturers and retailers will get guidance on the best ways to increase rates of product registrations.

Consumer Minister Kelly Tolhurst said:

Registering your fridges, freezers and other every day appliances only takes a few minutes and makes it easy for manufacturers to get in touch in the unlikely event there is a problem.

This research will build on a fantastic first year for the Office for Product Safety and Standards. It has helped build on the UK’s already world leading consumer protection regime, raising awareness of faulty products and keeping in place the strong protections we will need after EU Exit.

Today also marks Register My Appliance Day, which has been organised by AMDEA to raise awareness of the benefits of registering household products.

Douglas Herbison, Chief Executive of AMDEA, said:

We congratulate OPSS on its first anniversary and have been particularly grateful for its support of our Register My Appliance campaign. All AMDEA members are committed to product safety and we have been pleased to share our technical and standards expertise with the new teams in OPSS and look forward to working with them in the future.

The new research is one of several science-based research programmes planned by OPSS. Other activity over the past year includes:

• reaching more than two million people with public awareness campaigns about the dangers of products such as flammable costumes, fireworks and laser pointers
• strengthening the UK’s ability to stop unsafe products at the border after EU exit
• funding testing-houses for potentially hazardous products such as cosmetics, ladders and toys