I am sorry if I misinterpreted what the noble Lord said, but I get his drift. We believe that the operation of our current product regulation framework already recognises the point that he made.
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The General Product Safety Regulations, or GPSR, allow for a baseline safety standard whereby all consumer products must be safe under reasonably foreseeable conditions of use. However, many products present risks that are managed through bespoke regulations, such as machinery and children’s toys. As noble Lords have heard my noble friend say previously, these regulations extend to many pages of often hugely technical detail. They include products such as cosmetics, fireworks, lifts, pressure equipment and so forth. Provisions already exist that relate to products presenting a serious risk. Articles 20 and 21 of the regulation on accreditation and market surveillance 2008, or RAMS, places a duty on authorities to recall, withdraw or prohibit the availability on the market of such products.
I have noted the comment of the noble Lord, Lord Foster, on lithium batteries and the e-bike safety campaign. He has put this point forward on a number of occasions with considerable passion. We feel that determining whether a product is a serious risk should be based on an appropriate risk assessment, accounting for the nature of the hazard and the likelihood of occurrence. These are general provisions providing baseline rules, but the Bill allows for more specific provisions to be made to account for particular circumstances.