Press Release: Consumers: Annual RAPEX Report shows rise in number of dangerous products being detected

The number of dangerous products removed from the EU market rose by 53% in 2007 compared to in 2006, the Commission's annual report on the Rapid Alert System (RAPEX) revealed today. This rise from 1 051 notifications in 2006 to 1 605 last year showed that Member States' surveillance capacities are improving year on year, and that European consumers are better protected today than ever before. Toys were by far the most notified product category in 2007, confirming that child safety is a top-ranking priority for market surveillance authorities, although motor vehicles, electrical goods and cosmetics also featured prominently in the RAPEX system. Once again, China was the country of origin for more than half of all risky products found (700 notifications). This can be partly explained the high number of products imported into the EU from China and the intensified focus of market surveillance authorities on Chinese products following the "summer of recalls" last year. In this light, Commissioner Kuneva presented an update on the extensive work which is being done to strengthen enforcement controls following the recommendations of the Commission's product safety 'stocktaking' review last autumn. She also set out plans for major initiatives for 2008, including a upgrading of the current EU-China Memorandum of Understanding and an EU-US-China trilateral product safety summit to be held in Brussels in November 2008.

European Commission: MEMO/08/252: Questions and answers on the Rapid Alert System for non-food consumer products (RAPEX http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/252&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

European Commission: MEMO/08/251: Questions and Answers: Product safety activities and follows up on the 2007 stocktaking exercise http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/251&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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