Pick up almost any electrical product and you will find a CE or UKCA mark. Pick up a pram or pushchair and you are looking for something different. In Great Britain, prams and pushchairs sit under the general product safety regime rather than a product-specific marking scheme, and the labels that matter are a British Standard reference and, for upholstered products, a fire-safety label. This article explains what those labels mean, what the law expects of sellers, and how to read a listing when you are buying online. It covers England, Scotland and Wales; Northern Ireland has moved to a different general product safety regime, which is not covered here.
The legal baseline in Great Britain
The General Product Safety Regulations 2005 apply in Great Britain to products intended for, or likely to be used by, consumers, and GOV.UK describes them as providing a baseline of safety. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) guidance says producers, which includes UK-based importers, must make sure a product is safe before it goes on the market, and must give consumers the information they need to assess risks that are not obvious. Distributors must act with due care and must not supply products they know, or ought to know, are dangerous; the guidance gives the example of a product that has been recalled. In Great Britain, local Trading Standards authorities enforce the rules.
GOV.UK also says that in Northern Ireland the 2005 Regulations were superseded on 13 December 2024 by the EU Regulation on General Product Safety (2023/988), so the details there are different.
What “safe” means in practice: the standard
The OPSS guidance says that when a product conforms to a voluntary national standard designated by the Secretary of State, it is presumed to be safe as far as the risks covered by that standard go. For prams and pushchairs, Trading Standards guidance from Pembrokeshire County Council (written for England, Scotland and Wales and last reviewed in June 2024) points to BS EN 1888, “Child care articles. Wheeled child conveyances. Safety requirements and test methods”. It says all prams and pushchairs, new and used, are required to be safe, and that one way to show that is compliance with the standard. It advises looking for a label stating compliance with BS EN 1888, usually on the frame or seat covering.
Note what that guidance does not do: it does not tell buyers to look for a CE or UKCA mark on a pushchair. OPSS’s general online-shopping advice does mention recognised safety markings such as UKCA and CE, but that is generic guidance across many product types. For a pram, the Trading Standards advice is to look for the BS EN 1888 label.
The fire-safety label
There is a second label that many buyers never notice. The Pembrokeshire guidance says all upholstered prams and pushchairs, new and used, must meet the flammability requirements of the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988, and that new ones must carry permanent and display labels explaining compliance. The regulations themselves define “furniture” to include cots, carry-cots, playpens, prams and pushchairs. According to the guidance, if a used item does not have a permanent label with the words “CARELESSNESS CAUSES FIRE”, you should assume it does not comply and it should not be sold. If you are buying second-hand, look for that label as well as the BS EN 1888 one.
Traceability information
The OPSS guidance says producers must allow for traceability by indicating on the product or its packaging, where reasonable, the name and address of the producer and a product reference or batch. That gives you a practical check: a product with no identifiable maker or importer, and no reference you could quote if there were a recall, is harder to trace if something goes wrong. It also makes it much easier to check whether a product has been recalled.
Reading an online listing
OPSS’s “My safety: online shopping” campaign says that even tried-and-tested online marketplaces sometimes sell unsafe products. Its advice includes checking the seller (how long they have been selling, their UK contact details and their overall rating), reading reviews carefully for mentions of quality or safety, and checking the product description for clear instructions, safety warnings and UK contact details. Putting that together with the pram-specific labels, a sensible checklist for a listing is:
- Does the listing mention BS EN 1888, and do the photos show the label on the frame or seat cover?
- For an upholstered pushchair, is there a photo of the fire-safety label?
- Are the seller’s UK contact details and the producer’s or importer’s name clear?
- Do reviews mention brakes, harness or folding problems?
If the seller cannot show you these, that is a reason to ask questions or look elsewhere.
Checks for a used pram
Trading Standards notes that a damaged or modified pushchair may no longer meet the standard, and that the only way to be certain is laboratory testing, which is expensive. It lists checks you can do yourself: sharp edges or points; whether the folding chassis has primary and secondary locking devices that both engage; whether the harness is a secure five-point harness with straps that are not frayed; wheel security and heavy wear; whether the parking brake works forwards and backwards; stability in all directions; bent tubes or linkages; and finger-entrapment points.
The bottom line
For a pram or pushchair bought in Great Britain, the labels that matter are the BS EN 1888 compliance label and, for upholstered items, the fire-safety label, alongside the general safety requirement placed on sellers. Check both labels, look for traceable seller information, and use the used-pram checks from Trading Standards before you pay.
Sources
- Pembrokeshire County Council Trading Standards, “New and second-hand prams and pushchairs”
- GOV.UK (OPSS), “General Product Safety Regulations 2005: Great Britain”
- GOV.UK (OPSS), “My safety: online shopping”
- legislation.gov.uk, “The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988” (as originally made)