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What are the rules governing product safety in the EU?
The basic legislation governing the safety of consumer products in the EU is the General Product Safety Directive (GPSD). This Directive stipulates that products placed on the European market have to be safe and gives Member States the powers to control the market and take appropriate measures should unsafe products be found.
Next to this, there are separate rules governing the safety of several specific product groups such as toys, electrical equipment, cosmetics, lifts, construction products, radio and telecommunications equipment, pesticides and pharmaceuticals.
What are the obligations of businesses regarding product safety?
Producers and distributors have to ensure that only safe products are placed on the market. Therefore, once they become aware that a product is dangerous, they must immediately inform the Malta Standards Authority, clearly identifying the product in question, the risks it poses and the information necessary to trace it. They must also inform the authorities of any measures taken to prevent further risks to consumers.
What is the role of EU Member States in ensuring the safety of consumer products?
Member States have to ensure that businesses respect their obligation to place only safe products on the market. To this end, they must designate market surveillance authorities, the Malta Standards Authority in Malta’s case, with the necessary powers to take appropriate measures if they find dangerous consumer products on the market. Such measures can include a ban/stop on sales, withdrawal of a dangerous product from the market, providing information to consumers about the risks related to the use of the product, or the recall of a dangerous product already sold to consumers.
Where Member States take measures to prevent or restrict the marketing or use of consumer products posing a serious risk to the health and safety of consumers, they have to notify the Commission, via the RAPEX system.
What is RAPEX?
RAPEX (EU Rapid Alert System for non-food consumer products) is a European rapid alert system for dangerous consumer products. It ensures that information about dangerous products identified by the national authorities is quickly circulated between the national authorities themselves and the European Commission, with the aim of preventing or restricting the selling of these products on the market. 30 countries currently participate in the system; all the European Union countries and the European Economic Area (EEA) countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
What is the link between ports and product safety?
Nowadays, an increasing share of everyday consumer products is manufactured outside Europe. Sea ports handle close to 90% of all goods entering the European market, and it is therefore crucial that any unsafe products are identified immediately upon arrival at a port and before they are distributed on the market.
Are counterfeit goods particularly dangerous?
It is possible that counterfeited products also pose safety risks, but so far statistical evidence for whether counterfeit goods are particularly dangerous is lacking. In 2006, more than 2 million counterfeited toys and games were seized by the EU customs. Counterfeited toys and games rank sixth as the most counterfeited article, after cigarettes, medicines, clothes, electrical equipments but they come before cosmetics, foodstuff and computer equipment. 85% of counterfeited toys and games originate from China and this share has increased by 41% since 2005.
As a result, cooperation with China mainly focuses on counterfeiting and is dealt with under the EU-China Customs Cooperation Agreement signed in 2004. The agreement aims to improve customs co-operation to facilitate trade, increase security and step up the fight against counterfeiting piracy and customs fraud.
Where can I find more information?
For more information please visit:
http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/index_en.htm
European Commission's product safety pages: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/cons_safe/index_en.htm
Rapex:
http://ec.europa.eu/rapex |
