All topics / Basic Services for All New Yorkers / Department of Consumer and Worker Protection
Median days to respond to inspection referrals
Protect and advocate for consumers and ensure businesses comply with applicable laws and regulations — Respond to consumer complaints and mediate with businesses to achieve fair and timely outcomes.
Response time to inspection referrals doubled to 20 days in fiscal 2024, which DCWP attributes to rising demand for inspections plus operational and data-integration challenges from rolling out a new Business Automation system that year. Once those integration issues were resolved, response time improved to 9 days in fiscal 2025 and continued dropping to about 7-8 days into fiscal 2026 as data synchronization between DCWP's systems improved.
Researched July 15, 2026 — DCWP, Fiscal 2024 Mayor's Management Report, DCWP, Fiscal 2025 Mayor's Management Report
* Year to date — this fiscal year isn't complete, so it's not compared against prior years in the target/trend status above.
View as table
| Fiscal year | Actual |
|---|---|
| FY22 | 12 days |
| FY23 | 10 days |
| FY24 | 20 days |
| FY25 | 9 days |
| FY26 (YTD) | 8 days |
Why this is tracked
The Department of Consumer Affairs, DCWP's predecessor, was created on April 29, 1969 when the City Council passed the landmark Consumer Protection Law, merging the Department of Markets (including Weights and Measures) with the Department of Licensing into one unified agency. It was the country's first municipal consumer protection agency. Today DCWP continues that mandate by licensing businesses, inspecting scales and pricing practices, and enforcing rules like the ban on price gouging during emergencies, which can carry penalties up to $25,000 per violation.
The Country's First Municipal Consumer Protection Agency Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary, New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection - Wikipedia
Source: General Counsel Division and Enforcement Division — via NYC Open Data: Mayor's Management Report, Agency Performance Indicators
Coverage shown: FY22–FY26, reported monthly.
Definition: The median number of days between the time a consumer complaint requesting an inspection is received in the system and the time the inspection result is recorded.