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Join together to lobby on industry issues


Viewpoint from Will Jones, Chief Operating Officer of BHETA


Sadly, there’s no shortage of issues around at the moment to trouble us as both individuals, and businesses. Whether it’s the closing window of opportunity to address climate change, the continued legislative fall out from BREXIT, the horrible prevalence of violent crime, the human and commercial effects of the pandemic or the humanitarian and economic crisis arising from the war in Ukraine, the list of concerning subjects seems long and getting longer. all


To these challenges, it is imperative that


Governments are seen to react with proposals to make things better, grow back stronger and so on.


Admittedly that is a big ask, but whether because of the pressure for speedy response, inadequate briefing or something more cynical, too often proposals from the powers that be can seem more about ticking boxes than really finding ways of getting to the heart of problems. More and more frequently BHETA is seeing member companies wrestling with new legislation that purports to address serious issues, but costs legitimate businesses with legitimate goals considerable amounts of money and time. This would not be quite so bad if the legislation in question really helped to solve but often it does little or nothing to help – other than tick that box!


I name several examples:


• Taxing multi-use (as opposed to just single- use) plastic to address sustainability


• Blaming DIY tools and corrosive household cleaners (not to mention kitchen knives and cutlery) for violent crime and attempting to limit their sale to legitimate consumers


• Imposing costly product reconfiguration, relabelling and repackaging on suppliers of household, garden and other products to comply with new import / export laws


• Failing (thus far) to help companies anxious to secure or find alternatives to threatened supply chains to do so sensibly and achievably


The first time BHTETA was approached to


lobby about these kinds of issues, it would probably be fair to say that the association was unsure how much it could achieve. It had a long and successful track record lobbying retailers about terms and conditions and the like on behalf


www.diyweek.net


of supplier members, but lobbying Government seemed at first to be a greater challenge. Having managed to address the threat to multi-use plastic successfully - securing a change in policy from HMRC - and also tackled the definition of many DIY and gardening tools and substances in relation to violent crime, BHETA is now far more confident that with a co-ordinated approach involving members, positive strides can be achieved. My conclusion is that organisations like


BHETA must lobby against unfair penalties which achieve nothing real, and I exhort all retailers and suppliers in our sectors to join with BHETA to do the same. Of course, it’s easy to think - yes, I should speak out here, but what would I achieve?


But the


potential of lobbying, whom and how to target and the importance of co-ordinating concerted campaigns is now proven. Addressing palpably unjustified attacks from Governments keen to be seen to be acting can work. And I have to say we are getting more and


more successful, working with the membership to achieve real and meaningful wins for our sectors – housewares, small domestic electricals, DIY and garden.


Following BHETA’s lobbying


on the draft Plastic Packaging tax legislation, coordinated with members, HMRC made a U-turn. Its original position was to extend the legislation’s scope to include multi-use consumer goods such as storage boxes and packed lunch boxes, toolboxes, and shop fittings as well as packaging. Prior to BHETA’s intervention, the previous draft of the legislation could have precipitated costs of an additional estimated £50million per year in tax across the supplier base and this case certainly demonstrated what could be achieved. Since 2019, BHETA has been engaged in


lobbying on the legitimate sale of products such as cutlery, secateurs and drain cleaners which were included in the original draft of the forthcoming Offensive Weapons Act (OWA). So far, we have received good and bad news. The act is scheduled to come into force this Spring on April 6th. While the new guidance still provides interpretation on selling products


to under


eighteens and online, and still includes knives used for the purpose of hobbies and trades, such as Stanley knives and snap-off cutters as well as gardening tools which ‘could commonly be described as a knife’, thanks to lobbying some significant exclusions have been achieved. These are products such as shears, secateurs, chisels, scissors and lawnmower blades.


There are also positive developments


regarding OWA’s impact on corrosives. While products such as drain cleaners / unblockers, paint strippers, brick and patio cleaners, cleaning products and rust or limescale removers are still included, the Government has now published a list of the chemical ingredients and the concentration limits at which they fall within the definition of ‘corrosive product’. Looking at the table of concentration limits, it seems that many household brands in this sector who would previously have had to take costly labelling and packaging steps to comply with the new OWA, in fact fall below the threshold in terms of the strength of the product. Most recently we are making progress on the post-BREXIT issue of CE / CA marking. The question of helping suppliers address their supply chain in the light of freight costs and now the disruption of warfare is also on the agenda.


So, never let it be said that there is no point in standing up to initiatives which are unfair and, in many cases, do not achieve much if anything in relation to the real problems society and business face. The key is co-operation between trade associations, suppliers, national retailers and independents. Together we can keep the pressure on and achieve many more benefits for our industry.


For more information about BHETA, BHETA lobbying and the BHETA responsible knife retailing campaign, contact the BHETA Member Services team on 0121 237 1130 or visit the BHETA website www.bheta.co.uk.


MARCH 2022 DIY WEEK 39


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