Trading Standards Scotland (TSS) is the national team for trading standards in Scotland. The team is jointly funded by the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and Her Majesty's Treasury; and managed by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), the representative body of local government in Scotland.
Political governance is provided by the Trading Standard Scotland Governance Board, comprising all major political parties in Scotland and chaired by the COSLA spokesperson for Community Wellbeing.
Operationally, TSS has a duty to coordinate and enforce cross boundary and national casework as well as undertake the specialist functions of tackling illegal money lending and e-crime. It is a resource intended to add capacity to local authority trading standards teams in these areas of activity.
TSS has also developed an intelligence gathering and analysis function which allows the national team to identify a picture of Level 2 criminal activity (activity that takes place across council and/or national boundaries) and has implemented a tasking and coordination process to determine the allocation of resource to tackle it.
As an integral part of COSLA, TSS is at the heart of policy development for local government and works closely with a number of partners including Police Scotland, the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards Scotland (SCOTSS), Advice Direct Scotland and Citizens Advice Scotland to strengthen protection for Scottish consumers.
Contact Trading Standards
Scottish consumers should contact Advice Direct Scotland for consumer advice or to report a trader. You can call their free helpline on 0808 164 6000 or visit their website
They will discuss your problem with you and will refer it to Trading Standards if appropriate.
Further Information
Visit www.tsscot.co.uk for more information on the team and the wider consumer protection landscape