Tag: product safety

Fewer dangerous goods are finding their way onto EU shelves, Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli said yesterday (12 May), presenting the European Commission’s annual report on product safety in Brussels. But consumer groups disagreed and said more effort was needed to improve market surveillance. 

The European Union has adopted legislation to improve toy safety throughout the bloc ahead of the busy Christmas shopping period. But consumer groups accused the EU institutions of "lacking the ambition" to tighten safety requirements still further.

EU product safety standards are improving, according to Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva, who presented the results of a Commission survey yesterday (17 April). But consumer organisations say much more can be done to improve the effectiveness of EU surveillance systems.

Increasing EU co-operation with the US and China on toy safety is a priority, Commissioner for Consumer Protection Meglena Kuneva announced yesterday (22 November), presenting plans to strengthen product safety across the Union.

Members of Parliament are demanding a new EU toy-safety label and stepped-up market surveillance, with sanctions for producers and importers that break the rules, following a scandal involving millions of Chinese-made products over the summer. The Commission has said that it will propose a Directive before Christmas. 

The Commission and China have adopted a series of tools to combat counterfeiting and the smuggling of illegal and unsafe products.

Consumers' organisations welcome the Commission's decision banning the import and marketing of lighters that do not respect high standards of safety for children.

The European Parliament and the Council reached an agreement on 10 October after conciliation talks on new rules for labelling the ingredients of compound animal feed.