More than 2,000 dangerous products triggered alerts across the European Union (EU) in 2015, according to new figures published by the European Commission on Monday.
The Commission, EU member states, and businesses are working together to ensure these unsafe consumer goods are removed from the European market, said the Commission.
Specifically, there were 2,072 alerts and 2,745 follow-up actions registered in 2015 in the Rapid Alert system, a market surveillance system to monitor unsafe products. When one member state posts an alert on the system, other countries can spot the product on their market and react to this initial alert, explained the Commission.
In 2015, toys, and clothing, textiles and fashion items were the two main product categories for which corrective measures had to be taken, which were already the most notified products the year before. As far as risks are concerned, the most frequently notified risk was chemical risk, followed by the risk of injuries.
In particular, a new challenge is now to address the online channel, as products from outside the EU are shipped directly to households and may not have been subject to safety verification, noted the Commission.
Over 65 percent of Europeans buy products online and the number of online shoppers has grown by 27 percent between 2006 and 2015. The Commission said it was working on further improving the Rapid Alert system to include this aspect.
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