The UK’s product safety laws – which are over 30 years old – are set to be overhauled in a bid to make them fit for emerging technologies and new online shopping habits, the government has announced.

Much of the UK’s product safety regime is underpinned by EU laws, with some dating back to 1987. Having left the EU, the UK is set to create its own product safety regime in what they say would better suit British businesses and attempts to ensure consumers have the same protections when shopping online as on the high street.

The consultation, which takes place today 2 August, will seek views on how the UK can better regulate 21st century innovations like internet connected devices including smart watches and speakers, and artificial intelligence (AI).

As with much of their post-Brexit regulations, such as their data protection bill, the UK government says a major concern with new laws is to ensure British businesses are not stifled by costly red tape.

According to the government, businesses are set to save time and money thanks to proposals to introduce e-labelling. E-labelling means that compliance information would be stored on a device itself, without the wasteful inclusion of a physical manual.

The UK government says their e-labelling plans would go further than the EU, reduce waste, relieve industry burdens, and allow product information to be easily and regularly updated.

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch said: “I am determined to use our post-Brexit freedoms to identify outdated EU laws placing unnecessary burdens on business and reform them to benefit both companies and consumers.

“These changes will provide better consumer protections while upholding our world-leading safety standards and will also cut costs for business to ensure they have the freedom they need to innovate and thrive, helping to create jobs and grow the economy.”

Tina McKenzie, Policy Chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said: “We welcome measures to ease the burden on small businesses while ensuring high safety standards. Regulatory requirements should be designed to be as consistent and straightforward as possible to reduce the costs of compliance for small firms.”

In addition to the recent extension of CE marking – the mark on goods which means they are up to EU standards which the UK government extended the use of – these reforms have the potential to dramatically change the types of regulations businesses deal with in the UK.

The UK government is on course to have passed legislation by the end of this year which will revoke or reform more than 2,000 pieces of Retained EU Law.

For emerging technologies themselves, the UK is still behind the EU in drafting any formal legislation on AI. The EU is one legislative step away from approving their landmark AI Act, while the UK is planning on having an international summit this autumn to discuss the potentials of the merging technology.