The European Commission released its 2017 report on the Rapid Alert System for dangerous products. The report shows that in 2017, public authorities began to increasingly use the rapid alert system, as more than 2000 alerts were circulated on the system for hazardous products. For example, several of the most popular fidget spinners, cars and motorcycle models, outweighed the list of dangerous products discovered on the market.
Of the 2201 warnings sent through Rapid Alert systems, almost 4,000 follow-ups were carried out. This shows that all national authorities carefully monitored the system warnings and took all necessary measures to make the market more consumer friendly.
Consumers are increasingly buying products from third countries via online. The challenge now is to ensure that these products meet EU safety standards. Hazardous products reported in the Rapid Alert System are also sold on web-based platforms or markets. In order to address this phenomenon, the Commission is encouraging cooperation with its international partners and online platforms to ensure that hazardous products do not reach EU consumers.
In 2017, the most reported product category was "toys" (29%), followed by motor vehicles (20%) and clothing, textiles and fashion products (12%). Most of the dangerous products in the system came from outside the EU, China being the number one.
In order to improve enforcement, the Commission will launch its “New Deal for Consumers” aimed to update the existing rules and improving consumer protection. The next step in upgrading the system allows users to read each alert in all official EU languages.
The Rapid Alert System has dedicated a public website (ec.europa.eu/consumers/rapid-alert-system), which provides access to alerts issued by national authorities. Every week about 50 warnings are registered and published online.