The Fire Protection Association has joined other safety organisations and trade groups to sign an open letter calling for greater regulatory safeguards of online marketplaces, specifically relating to lithium-ion batteries
Penned by Electrical Safety First (ESF) as part of its Battery Breakdown campaign and representing hundreds of UK consumers, businesses, and public safety organisations, the open letter to the Minister for Employment Rights, Competition, and Markets, Justin Madders MP, calls for more accountability of online marketplaces for the safety of products sold, including e-bikes and e-scooters containing lithium-ion batteries.
In July 2025, the Product Regulation and Metrology Act received Royal Assent, which included an amendment granting the Minister powers to “identify and regulate products that present a ‘high-risk’ to consumers”.
“This essential Act has laid the groundwork for the introduction of a strong new duty on online marketplaces and tough enforcement powers to protect online shoppers and drive economic growth in line with your government's key mission,” ESF states in the open letter.
However, the success of these new laws is dependent on secondary legislation, the charity explains. There is a broad consensus among UK businesses, consumer groups, and public safety organisations that secondary regulations should now be introduced to address lithium-ion batteries – products considered to be high-risk and deserving of specific safety regulations, as is the case with fireworks or heavy machinery. Doing so can give customers confidence, enable businesses to compete fairly, and support economic growth in the UK.
The letter calls for secondary legislations to:
- introduce a clear duty to make online marketplaces accountable for the safety of all products sold, including proactively preventing the sale of unsafe products on their platforms
- empower regulators to issue heavy fines or to then take further enforcement action for online marketplaces that fall short of the required standards.
The Product Regulation and Metrology Act presents a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to modernise the UK’s product safety regime for the digital age,” the charity adds. Further regulation could look to end the “absurd double standard that has allowed some online marketplaces to get away with flooding UK households with products that risk injury and death, and leaving retailers, businesses, and manufacturers that play by the rules at an unfair disadvantage”.
“Countless investigations have exposed the unrelenting availability of dangerous products that easily return to market even if illegal listings are removed. Only clear and strong requirements backed up by severe penalties will deter online marketplaces from allowing unsafe products to appear on their platforms in the first place,” the letter reads.
“We urge you to do everything in your power to ensure robust secondary regulations are adopted so that this Act meets its promise.”
As reported earlier by the FPA, government statistics revealed a noticeable rise in the number of lithium-ion battery-related fires in the UK in recent years. There were 170 e-bike fires reported in 2024, compared to 2 in 2017 and 26 in 2020. A large percentage of the 2024 fires (45%) were confirmed to have “occurred where post-market conversion kits had been used to make a bike electric”.
The FPA previously lent its support to the ESF’s safety campaign in November 2023, for a proposed bill to introduce better measures regarding safety assurance, responsible disposal, and comprehensive fire safety for e-scooters and e-bikes powered by secondary lithium-ion batteries or rechargeable batteries.
More information about ESF’s Battery Breakdown campaign can be found here.
You can access FPA guidance regarding the safe use of lithium-ion batteries here: