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Artifact GuideUKPenalties and fines

UK PSTI Product Security Penalties and fines

The maximum fixed penalty is the greater of GBP 10 million and 4% of . A continuing breach can also attract up to GBP 20,000 per day.

Those figures are statutory ceilings, not automatic fines. OPSS determines the amount from the facts and may combine a monetary penalty with other enforcement action.

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Author
Sorena AI
Published
May 9, 2026
Updated
Jul 24, 2026
4 sections8 primary sources
Overview

Under Part 1 of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) Act 2022, OPSS may impose a fixed penalty, a daily penalty for continuing non-compliance after the penalty deadline, or both. The maximum fixed penalty is the greater of GBP 10 million and 4% of the person's for the most recent accounting period, subject to the Act's calculation rules. The maximum daily penalty is GBP 20,000 per day. The actual amount depends on OPSS's decision in the case.

Section 2

How OPSS decides the amount

OPSS guidance says it normally starts with the potential or actual harm, culpability, and the person's position in the market. It then considers relevant mitigating and aggravating factors. This is enforcement guidance about OPSS's approach; the Act supplies the power and ceilings.

Relevant factors may include prompt disclosure, practical or technical reasons for continuing non-compliance, early remediation, restorative action, compliance history, duration, cooperation, evidence of responsibility, and financial gain. A business should support each point with dated records rather than a general assurance. OPSS determines if the amount is disputed, so preserve the basis for the entity, accounting period, adjustments, and figures submitted.

  • Revenue evidence: preserve the relevant accounts, group structure, accounting-period dates, and any figures supplied to OPSS.
  • Breach evidence: identify the precise Chapter 2 duty, products, versions, supply dates, duration, customers, and known effects.
  • Mitigation evidence: record discovery, disclosure, containment, remediation, customer protection, notification, and verification dates.
  • Continuing-breach evidence: show when non-compliance ended and how that was tested; this date can affect any daily element.
Section 3

Notice, payment, and appeal rights

Before imposing a Monetary Penalty, OPSS serves a notice of intent stating the grounds and proposed amount. The recipient has 28 days beginning with the day the notice is given to make written representations about liability, the fixed or daily elements, and the amount.

If OPSS confirms or varies the proposal, it serves a Monetary Penalty Notice. The notice must state the reasons, amount, payment period, appeal rights, and consequences of non-payment. The Act does not permit a payment period shorter than 28 days; OPSS guidance says the period will usually be 28 days but may be longer, and a separate period may apply to the daily element. An unpaid penalty can be recovered as a civil debt.

  • A section 41 appeal may challenge the decision to impose the penalty, the amount, or the payment period.
  • The appeal must be made to the First-tier Tribunal before the end of 28 days beginning with the day the notice is given or, for a variation, the day it is varied.
  • An appeal suspends the Monetary Penalty Notice pending the outcome. If only a variation is appealed, the variation is suspended and the original notice remains effective.
  • The Tribunal may confirm the penalty, vary the amount or payment period, cancel it, or refer the matter back to OPSS.
  • Calculate each deadline from the notice and proof of service. Informal discussions do not by themselves change a statutory period.
Section 4

Other financial and non-financial consequences

The main Chapter 2 Monetary Penalty is not the only possible cost. OPSS can combine it with Compliance, Stop, or Recall Notices, seek forfeiture of products, publish enforcement details, and prosecute specified offences. Failure to comply with an enforcement notice is an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine.

Failure without reasonable excuse to comply with an Information Notice uses a separate court-ordered penalty regime. The court may impose a fixed amount up to the greater of GBP 30,000 and 1% of turnover, a daily amount up to the greater of GBP 15,000 and 5% of daily turnover, or both. Do not confuse these court maxima with the GBP 10 million or 4% Chapter 2 penalty.

  • Forfeiture can require qualifying products to be delivered up and can permit or require their destruction or disposal.
  • A Recall Notice can lead to OPSS carrying out the recall and recovering its reasonable costs if the recipient does not comply.
  • OPSS says monetary penalties are paid to the Consolidated Fund and are not retained by the regulator.
  • Estimate exposure by legal route, affected actor, and continuing-breach period; do not add unrelated maxima as if every sanction must apply.
  • Recalculate the daily-penalty period when OPSS changes the payment deadline or the business completes and verifies remediation, and retain the evidence showing the date non-compliance ended.
Recommended next step

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Primary sources

References and citations

OPSS guidance on PSTI enforcement actions and associated rights
gov.uk5 citations
Referenced sections
  • Official guidance on monetary-penalty thresholds, calculation factors, notices, payment, appeals, and separate enforcement consequences.
  • Explains the balance-of-probabilities threshold, the separate fixed and daily elements, the statutory maxima, and OPSS's ability to impose a penalty without a criminal-court order.
  • Lists the starting considerations and mitigating or aggravating factors OPSS may use to determine a monetary penalty.
Show 2 more
  • Explains the 28-day representation period, notice-specific payment period, civil-debt recovery, appeal grounds and deadline, suspension, and Tribunal powers.
  • Distinguishes administrative monetary penalties from enforcement notices, forfeiture, prosecution, recall costs, publication, and court penalties for an Information Notice failure.
OPSS Enforcement Policy
gov.uk2 citations
Referenced sections
  • Sets the broader framework for OPSS's enforcement decisions and penalty approach.
  • Provides the broader decision framework that the PSTI-specific enforcement guidance says OPSS applies.

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