Government to retain Pedlars Acts but will reform street trading rules in April 2015

The Government is to press ahead with certain reforms to street trading rules in April 2015, but has decided against repealing the Pedlars Acts.

In its response to a consultation held last year the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said the certification process under the Pedlars Acts would now be amended to make it compliant with the Services Directive.

The definition of ‘pedlary’ is to remain unchanged, however. The Government has also said it did not consider that there was a strong case for changing the power to designate streets as licence streets or consent streets.

The DBIS response said the April 2015 changes would include:

• amending street trading legislation “so that undue restrictions on licences for pedlars and street traders are removed”;
• character checks to include a search of the police national databases to be applied consistently across the UK; and
• removing the requirement for a pedlar to have lived in the area where he or she wants to operate. (This requirement was deemed not to be compliant with EU law)

The response revealed police and local authority concerns at a proposal to abolish certification.

The police said they valued the certification process as it provided the means for them to make a judgement on whether or not to issue a licence and to thereby allow a pedlar to trade. If the certification requirement was lost, door-to-door selling by rogue traders would increase, they feared.

Local authorities were “similarly worried that removing the certification process would provide a free-for-all for undesirable trading in their town centres”.

Pedlars meanwhile felt UK legislation that specifically concerned pedlary was essential to their legitimacy as a profession.

Consumer Affairs Minister Jo Swinson said: “Street traders play a vital role in vibrant marketplaces right across the UK. These changes will ensure that shoppers can have confidence that street traders have undergone proper checks before trading, while making those checks simple and straightforward.

“Street trading stalls are an important part of British culture and offer a great place to shop. We want a system that is fair for everyone who wants to sell and buy goods.”

Deputy Chief Constable Peter Goodman, National Director of Operation Liberal – part of the National Doorstep Crime Intelligence Unit, said the new character checks were “a welcome strengthening of the current certification regime”.