Awards open to recognise best practice in making regulation work

31 Jan 2020 06:00 PM

The Regulatory Excellence Awards 2020 welcome entries from external stakeholders whose work is protecting consumers and supporting business.

The Regulatory Excellence Awards, organised by the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), share best practice in regulatory delivery by recognising work that has achieved positive outcomes.

The categories remain unchanged from last year: Primary Authority, Better Business for All, Innovation and Technical, and Product Safety.

From engineers, scientists and technicians working in metrology and testing to individuals in businesses, trade associations and frontline regulators using better regulation tools and principles, the aim is to showcase outstanding work being done to protect the public and help British business comply with regulation.

There are four categories open to individuals, and organisations of any size, whose work is relevant to operations in the UK.

In the Primary Authority and Better Business for All categories, judges will seek a single Winner, and award Highly Commended and Commended where appropriate.

• Primary Authority - open to anyone involved in the development and management of primary authority partnerships.
• Better Business for All (BBfA) - open to BBfA partnerships, organisations and individuals working in the BBfA programme.

In the Product Safety and Innovation and Technical categories, judges will seek outstanding work, and will take into account the resources available, the difficulty of the challenge and the impact of the work. They will also award Highly Commended and Commended where appropriate.

• Product Safety - open to individuals or teams in business or regulatory organisations who have made a significant contribution to product safety, excluding automotive, pharmaceutical and construction products.
• Innovation and Technical - open to anyone working in technical and scientific fields (including metrology and hallmarking) who have developed novel or technical solutions that have in some way contributed to protecting consumers and supporting business.

Entry is simple, via a 500-word statement which demonstrates how the individual or organisation has made a real difference in protecting citizens and supporting the business community, using better regulation tools and principles.

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Criteria and entry

• The Awards are open to anyone involved in the delivery of regulation and compliance e.g. local authorities, national regulators, businesses and trade associations
• Individuals, teams or organisations can be nominated by others and/or themselves
• Entry forms are available from Regulatory Excellence Awards 2020 Entry Form (ODT, 29.4KB) or from OPSSRegExAwards@beis.gov.uk
• Deadline: entry forms must be returned to the Office for Product Safety and Standards by May 1, 2020
• Entries must be submitted online. Scanned entries are acceptable.
• Short external endorsements may be included with entries.
• No additional material is required, and will not be considered by the judges.

Entrants may receive a follow-up call from a member of the OPSS team. Judging and the announcement of finalists will take place in May.

Winners will not be notified in advance.

Winners be announced at a special half-day event at the offices of Gowling WLG in London on June 4, where we will hear from regulators and businesses, and have time for networking and refreshments.