Tag: toys

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. 

EU product safety standards are continuing to improve, Consumer Affairs Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said yesterday (20 April), presenting a report which showed that record numbers of dangerous goods were withdrawn from European shelves last year, mostly of Chinese origin.

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 number of unsafe products identified in the EU rose sharply in 2005. More than half of the serious risk notifications concerned toys and electrical appliances.

The planned compromise deal banning, without age-limitations, the use of phthalates in toys will be an EU landmark decision in the protection of children's health.