Protecting European consumers
Toys and cars on top of the list of dangerous products
The European Commission released today its 2018 report on the Safety Gate for dangerous products, the former Rapid Alert System.
The report shows that authorities exchanged 2,257 alerts on dangerous products. Toys' belonged to the most notified product category (31%), followed by 'motor vehicles' (19%), and 'clothing, textiles and fashion items' (10%), while the main risks flagged were chemical risks and injuries (25% each) followed by the choking risk for children (18%).
Product recalls are one of the most common measures to reduce the risks posed by dangerous products, however the proportion of products successfully recovered from consumers remains generally low. The results of a new survey on the issue show that aa third of the respondents consciously continue to use recalled products, suggesting that recall notices may not have much effect on consumers and/or that the risk may not be communicated clearly enough.
More than half of all the detected dangerous products come from China. Cooperation with Chinese authorities in the product safety field continues to be a priority, but the results are mixed. The Commission continues to work with the competent Chinese authorities on this. This includes raising awareness about the product safety rules that need to be met when selling to EU consumers.
Related links
Annual report and factsheet with national statistics
Survey on the effectiveness of recalls
Search tool for the Rapid Alert System published information