The Commission of the European Union (EU) has released statistics on notices of unsafe consumer products that have been processed through the EU’s rapid information system (RAPEX) for the period from January 1 through June 30, 2013.
According to the Commission’s report, 783 notifications of products posing a serious risk to health and safety were processed through the RAPEX system during the first half of 2013. This represents an overall 20% decrease in the 976 notifications received over the same period in 2012, although notifications during the April-June period were roughly equal with the April-June 2012 period.
Of the notifications processed through the RAPEX system during the period as presenting a serious risk to consumers, 194 (25%) were related to clothing, textiles and fashion items, with an additional 176 (22%) related to toys, and 78 (10%) related to electrical appliances. There were also 68 notifications related to motor vehicles (9%), and 7 notifications (>1%) related to childcare articles and children’s equipment.
Regarding the country of origin identified in connection with products posing a serious safety risk, more than half of all notifications (60%) were related to products originating from China, including Hong Kong. 15% of unsafe products originated in EU Member States, while 8% failed to identify any country of origin.
View the complete text of the EU Commission’s 2013 mid-year report on RAPEX statistics.
