Fake cosmetics online reveal UK’s consumer protection failures
Sue Davies, Head of Consumer Protection Policy
| Which?
Sue Davies, Head of Consumer Protection Policy at Which? argues that fake cosmetics sold online expose the need to strengthen online marketplace responsibilities and fix the UK’s broken consumer enforcement system.
Picture the scene: a young shopper buys what looks like a discounted skincare product, only to suffer painful skin irritation from toxic ingredients. It’s a scary thought, and a situation that should never happen. But new research from Which? has found an array of counterfeit cosmetics, purported to be from trusted brands, for sale by third party sellers on online marketplaces - and shoppers have no way of knowing what products actually lie inside the packaging. Dangerous chemicals such as lead and arsenic have previously been found in counterfeit cosmetics, according to the Anti-Counterfeiting Group.
How is it that dangerous counterfeits are being sold in online marketplaces like Amazon marketplace, eBay and Vinted? The answer lies in the lack of clear responsibilities for marketplaces to ensure the safety of their products, as well as depleted consumer enforcement, which has resulted in an e-commerce landscape where dangerous and fake products are allowed to flourish. In a recent investigation, at least two thirds of the products Which? bought from third-party sellers on online marketplaces were believed to be likely counterfeits. The products Which? bought included brands like La Roche Posay, Maybelline and The Ordinary. The volume of counterfeit cosmetics differs between platforms, but the picture is uniformly bleak: four out of eleven products bought from Amazon, eight out of eleven from eBay, five out of six from TikTok Shop, and six out of six from Vinted. These numbers indicate that something has gone seriously wrong with how these online marketplaces are held to account and the checks and measures they have to prevent the sale of unsafe products.
It’s bad enough that consumers are getting ripped off paying for products that aren’t genuine - but it’s even worse when they raise safety concerns. This week, the Product Regulation and Metrology Act received Royal Assent, paving the way for the government to make online marketplaces legally responsible for the safety of the products they list on their sites. This has been a significant gap in consumer protection that Which? has campaigned for years to be addressed.
It’s not just changes in law that matter: it’s also critical to ensure that they can be effectively enforced. Much of this falls to Trading Standards Services based within local authorities who are vital for enforcing laws that protect consumers. They have, however, faced successive cut backs at a time when markets have become ever more complex. As our investigation highlights, the flood of counterfeit cosmetics circulating online shows the scale of the challenge they face. Effective enforcement that prevents counterfeit and unsafe products being offered to consumers is essential.
A recent Freedom of Information request to Trading Standards departments based in local authorities around the country revealed that many of them have limited resources, and that they are being forced to make difficult decisions about which areas of enforcement they can undertake. Many departments told us that they are having to reduce their level of proactive market surveillance, and that the policing of counterfeits is another area that is being deprioritised.
Online shoppers should be able to buy with full confidence that what is on offer is genuine and safe. It’s impossible for consumers to police these products themselves - and they shouldn’t have to. Even if consumers are vigilant, these fakes are often very convincing and difficult to spot. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that today’s budget-conscious shoppers are naturally tempted to look for bargains on online marketplaces, which makes them more vulnerable to sellers who offer cheap but potentially dangerous knock offs. Online marketplaces need to do more to ensure that the products they offer are what they say they are and, crucially, that they don’t put consumers at risk. This should involve rigorous seller verification processes and the swift removal of unsafe products.
From the sheer number of counterfeits found by Which?, it’s clear that sellers are not seriously worried about the consequences of enforcement - and this can only be a recipe for disaster. It may not be possible to catch and take down all counterfeit products instantly, but if enforcement powers were made sufficiently threatening, sellers could be deterred from attempting to list counterfeit products in the first place.
The fact that Trading Standards departments are having to deprioritise proactive market surveillance and action on counterfeits is symptomatic of a much wider problem. From cowboy builders and rogue traders to illegal tobacco sales, Trading Standards Services police around 300 regulations, but many are struggling to deal effectively with breaches of consumer protection. An ineffective consumer enforcement system hurts everyone: consumers suffer directly at the hands of bad actors, and responsible businesses are harmed by damaged consumer confidence. This in turn undermines the government’s key missions to drive economic growth and tackle crime. Non-compliance has a corrosive effect that can be felt from individual shoppers through to businesses and the wider UK economy.
The government needs to prioritise reform of Trading Standards as part of the consumer enforcement system within its regulatory reform agenda. Over-stretched local authorities are responsible for enforcing hundreds of laws relating to consumer protection, but their resources are dangerously limited at a time when markets have never been more complex. Local authorities are tasked with taking on huge and complex global businesses like Amazon at the same time that they’re dealing with high street and doorstep crime. This situation is untenable, and fundamental reform is needed to fix it. Trading Standards Services must be properly equipped to put a stop to the dangerous counterfeits that pollute online marketplaces and expose shoppers to serious health hazards, and the new Product Regulation and Metrology Act can only be a step in the right direction.
