In the EU, only safe products can be placed on the market. The EU and its Member States have a whole range of legislation and rules that help to define under which condition a product is safe or not. Products that do not comply with EU law on product safety should not be for sale.
If you are aware that you have bought a dangerous product and this product is recalled by the shop, website or manufacturer who produced it, you should respond to this recall immediately. Stop using the product and go to a doctor if feeling strange.
If you encounter a safety incident, caused by a product you have bought and used under normal conditions, you should report this incident to the authorities. You should also report any serious suspicion about safety of product you bought. Your information might help taking out a dangerous product from the market and protect other consumers.
Who is responsible for product safety in the EU?
Manufacturers, distributors and retailers have the obligation to produce or sell only safe products and to signal any problem to their corresponding authority. If the product is already in users’ homes, they have to organise a recall to recover the products before these cause any harm.
National authorities are responsible for monitoring their own markets to make sure no dangerous products are offered for sale. For this, they organise inspections testing of products in specialised laboratories. When they find a dangerous product, they take measures so it is withdrawn from the market, recalled from consumers or destroyed. They can also request online marketplaces to takedown the listings of that product from their websites. Online marketplaces that have signed the EU Product safety pledge commit to make this procedure more effective and quicker.
National authorities share the information about all these measures taken against dangerous products by using the Safety Gate system, where it is published in the form of alerts. This rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products has been running since 2003 following the implementation of the GPSD. It enables the sharing of information on these measures through all national authorities of all EU and EEA countries, so that the same product can be detected everywhere and dealt with by all national authorities in an efficient way so that all EU consumers are protected.
What is the European Commission doing to ensure product safety?
The European Commission negotiates with online marketplaces their signature of a voluntary product safety pledge, by which they make commitments going beyond product safety legal obligations. It contributes to the faster removal of dangerous non-food consumer products offered for sale online and sets out actions by online marketplaces to strengthen product safety, such as providing a clear way for customers to notify dangerous product listings. The signatories of the pledge also commit to respond to national authorities requests of takedown within 2 days.
The European Commission works also with authorities responsible for product safety in other countries outside the EU, such as the USA, China, Canada and Australia, and international institutions such as the OECD and UNCTAD. This allows exchange of information about dangerous products and emerging risks, as well as the organisation of joint initiatives, with a view of promoting product safety globally.
Particularly with China, an agreement since 2008 facilitates exchange of information with Chinese authorities. This allows them to follow alerts published on Safety Gate, and when the product originates from China, they take measures concerning the involved economic operators. Cooperation also includes training on EU product safety law to Chinese economic operators.
New challenges, new products and risks, as well as new consumers buying habits change, EU legislation also has to adapt. The GPSD, which is the basis of non-harmonised product safety legislation in the EU, is going through a revision to adapt to the new challenges.
Some tips for you to make sure you buy only safe products:
- Check, the product has the necessary instructions of use in your language;
- If it is a toy, check if there is an indication of the age of the child it is intended to;
- Check any labels, such as containing dangerous chemicals or easy flammability;
- If the product is intended to a small child or to be used by a child, make sure there are no long strings they could be strangled in or too small pieces that they could put in the mouth;
- Make sure the product can be assembled correctly and, if that is the case, that it is stable and safe for normal use once assembled;
- Check any suspicious chemical smell which could be linked to hazardous chemicals;
- If you see a recall about a product and you see it for sale, don’t buy it and spread the word so other people are aware about the recall.
- Before buying a product, check an official database of alerts to check it has not been banned from the market, such as the EU Safety Gate or the database of your national authority;
- If you buy online, make sure you can see all the characteristics of the product and you have all the information.