The European Union (EU) published its 2020 RAPEX annual report in March 2021. It showed a general stabilization of dangerous non-food produce alerts, with a total of 2,253 notifications being made by national authorities in 2020.
SGS, the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company, has now publishes an overview of the report. This details how toys remain the most notified product category with 27% of notifications. This was followed by motor vehicles (21%) and electrical appliances and equipment (10%).
The three most common risks notified are injuries (25%), chemical risk (18%) and choking (12%).
The report also shows the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic:
- 9% of all alerts related to COVID-19 related products (face masks, disinfectants containing toxic chemicals, etc.)
- 26% of notified products were brought online – in 2019 it had been 16% but the pandemic has caused a shift towards online retailing
It should be noted, more and more online marketplaces have joined the Product Safety Pledge initiative, thereby agreeing to check products recalled on the EU Safety Gate and remove them from their platforms.
Stakeholders might also be interested to know the European Commission has also announced the focus of the Product Safety Award will be:
- Protecting the safety of vulnerable consumer groups
- Combining safety and new technologies
SGS Product Recalls
SGS is committed to providing stakeholders with the latest news concerning product recalls from around the world. SGS sends a list of the latest unsafe product notifications in Europe, the US, Canada and Australia every week on the Product Recalls online platform. EU and US statistics are also published quarterly on Product Recall Trends. This information is also distributed with the SafeGuards. To learn more about SGS Product Recalls.
SGS SafeGuardS keep you up to date with the latest news and developments in the consumer goods industry. Read the full EU Safety Gate RAPEX Annual Report 2020 Published SafeGuardS.
Subscribe here to receive SGS SafeGuardS direct to your inbox.
For further information contact:
Frederique Lorber
Knowledge Management – Senior Project Manager
Tel. +33 4 42 61 64 42
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: www.sgs.com/cgnr
LinkedIn: sgs-consumer-goods-&-retail
About SGS
SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 89,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 2,600 offices and laboratories around the world.