Scotland introducing scheme to combat criminal use of self-storage facilities

Article summary

The Chartered Trading Standards Institute has announced that Trading Standards Services across Scotland will be launching ‘The Tick Box: Keep it Real Keep it Legal’ code of practice in conjunction with colleagues in England, Wales and the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to reduce the appeal of self-storage facilities to criminals who deal in counterfeit and other illicit goods. The code will set out procedures to prevent the storage of illicit or unsafe goods in self-storage facilities, help self-storage businesses be sure of who is using their premises and for what purpose, help enforcement authorities recover goods before entry to the marketplace and ultimately identify the perpetrators of the crimes. To join the scheme, businesses must be audited by their local authority Trading Standards in line with the ‘Tick Box’ code of practice. If they reach the requirements, they will be provided with posters containing the ‘Tick Box’ logo to reassure legitimate customers and deter anyone considering...