In February 2023, the European Commission (“EC”) published the results of its Safety Gate “Safer Products for all” 2022 Report. The Report highlights how Safety Gate, the EU rapid alert system where national authorities from across 30 countries (EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) enter information about measures taken against dangerous non-food products found in their markets, is more than just a simple exchange of information, but rather a crucial mechanism in ensuring effective action against unsafe products across the European Single market.
2022 Trends
Which regulators showed the most activity in 2022?
Although in 2022 the number of alerts validated on Safety Gate remained steadily at the same level of the previous 5 years, the Report noted major changes in the number of alerts notified per country, with alerts provided by Germany and Portugal dropping by more than 22%. The EC understands this to be a direct reflection of a general drop in the motor vehicle industry sales as both Germany and Portugal were historically the countries that filed the highest number of alerts on “motor vehicles”. On the other hand, the Report notes that countries historically less active in lodging notifications (e.g. Austria, Czechia, Latvia and Norway) have more than doubled the number of issued alerts. In total, 2.117 alerts were validated in Safety Gate in 2022.
Which product categories are on the regulators’ radars?
Out of the total alerts, the number of alerts for “motor vehicles” (the largest category in the number of alerts in 2021) dropped from 26% in 2021 to 16% in 2022 , whilst the number of alerts for “toys” increased from 20% in 2021 to 23% in 2022. The Report also shows an increased focus by enforcement authorities on “cosmetic” (10% of alerts) and “clothing, textiles & fashion” (9% of alerts) products in 2022. A category that showed a significant drop was “protective equipment” from 8% in 2021 to only 4% in 2022, which the Report understands to be a reflection of the smaller presence on the market of products directed at COVID-19 protection.
The Report states that the drop in “motor vehicle” alerts also has an effect on the types of risk most frequently signaled in the 2022 alerts. The risk of injuries, generally linked with “motor vehicle” alerts, dropped from 32% in 2021 to 21% in 2022. Similarly, the rise of risks linked to chemicals in the products seems to be directly related to the increase of alerts for cosmetic products. By way of example, the Report notes that national authorities reported several kinds of perfume and creams containing recently banned chemical substances, such as butylphenyl methylpropional (BMHCA) and hydroxyisohexyl 3-cyclohexene carboxaldehyde (HICC).
Future outlook
The Report notes that at the end of 2022, EU legislators reached a political agreement on the new General Product Safety Regulation, which will replace the General Product Safety Directive. The new Regulation, which aims at improving the current product safety framework, responds, among other issues, to the challenges posed by new technologies, the growth of online sales and recalls of dangerous products.
According to the EC, one of its current priorities is to provide interoperability solutions to allow for automatic exchanges of information between Safety Gate and other enforcement and information systems used by the different authorities, consumer and trade associations and industry. With this, the EC aims to help both industry and authorities to swiftly react when information on an unsafe product detected on the market becomes available.
As part of this initiative, in 2022 the Commission launched a new tool to increase the capacity of national authorities to trace online offers of dangerous products that have already been signalled on Safety Gate: the e-Surveillance webcrawler. This tool identifies and automatically lists any such offer, allowing enforcement authorities to track down the provider and order the effective withdrawal from the sale of such products.
Last but not least, the Report also notes how the EC has developed various initiatives in close cooperation with non-EU authorities from China, US and Canada in its efforts to tackle unsafe products in the EU and worldwide. If the Report is an indication of future priorities, it is clear that the EC has a renewed focus on tackling unsafe products in the EU (and potentially worldwide), making use of innovative technology tools, real-time sharing of information, and close cooperation between authorities and stakeholders alike.
Authored by Valerie Kenyon, Magdalena Bakowska, Lorena Baltazar.
