No need for motor trade licensing says OFT

Published Date: 3rd Mar 2005

In its report, the OFT report maintained that it had a "stringent code" in place for dealing with unscrupulous practices, rejecting claims for mandatory licensing from the Trading Standards Institute.

It pointed to initiatives such as its consumer code approval scheme, which gives a seal of approval to bodies that meet their requirements.

Although the scheme is voluntary, and the OFT has no power to legislate, a number of prominent organisations within the motor industry have affiliated themselves with the scheme.

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The SMMT is one of those organisations, and a spokesman told DeHavilland that such initiatives represented "the way forward" for the industry.

He also said that mandatory licensing could do more harm than good to the industry since the licensing fee would eat into already slender profit margins.