The Commission of the European Union (EU) has released statistics on notices of unsafe, non-food consumer products that have been processed through the EU’s rapid information system (RAPEX) for the year ending December 31, 2017.
According to the Commission’s report, 2201 notifications of products posing a serious risk to consumer health and safety were processed through the RAPEX system during 2017. This represents a significant increase from 2016’s numbers, when 1691 notifications were reported, but is generally consistent with results from prior years.
Once again, toys represent the product category with the most notifications, with 29 percent of all notifications recorded (approximately 638 notifications). Motor vehicles were in second place again this year, with 20 percent (440 notifications), followed by clothing, textiles and fashion items with 12 percent (264 notifications). Electrical appliance and equipment accounted for 6 percent of all notifications (132 notifications), and childcare articles and children’s equipment accounted 5 percent (110 notifications).
Regarding the country of origin identified in connection with products posing a serious safety risk, the Commission’s report omits explicit data regarding notifications involving countries other than those in the EU. However, an independent search of the RAPEX notification database indicates that 1083 notifications were received in 2017 related to products originating from China, including Hong Kong. This would equate to 49 percent of the total number of notifications, down from 53 percent in 2016, and 62 percent in 2015.
View the complete text of the EU Commission’s 2017 annual report on RAPEX statistics.
