SGS Provides Updates on the EU RAPEX 2012 Report

AIX EN PROVENCE, France - Oct. 7, 2013 - PRLog -- Latest EU RAPEX Report

RAPEX is the European rapid alert system for dangerous products with the exception of food, pharmaceutical and medical devices within the European Member States. In 2012, 2,278 products presenting a risk to the health and safety of consumers were reported through the RAPEX, which corresponds to a 26% rise in dangerous products notifications.

The European Commission attributes this increase to enforced market surveillance by national authorities and better cooperation with customs, as well as an improved and updated IT system for RAPEX.

Most Current Product Notifications

As in 2010 and 2011, the most notified product categories are clothing, textiles and fashion items (34%) and toys (19%) which represent 53% of all notifications distributed through the RAPEX system in 2012. The reason for the prominence of clothing, textiles and fashion items is the continuous actions of Member States market surveillance on cords and drawstrings in children’s clothing (http://newsletter.sgs.com/eNewsletterPro/uploadedimages/0...) as well as the permanent ban of dimethylfumarate (DMF) in consumer products under the REACH Regulation (http://newsletter.sgs.com/eNewsletterPro/uploadedimages/000006/sgs-safeguards-08112-eu-restricts-dimethyl-fumarate-under-reach-a4-en-12.pdf).

Notifications by Products

- Clothing and fashion: 34%
- Toys: 19%
- Electrical appliances: 11%
- Motor vehicles: 8%
- Cosmetics: 4%
- Others: 24%

Notifications by Type of Risk

- Injuries: 25%
- Chemical: 18%
- Strangulation: 17%
- Electric shock: 13%
- Choking: 8%
- Various: 21%

SGS to Safeguard Product Safety

In a drive to raise awareness of product risks and to promote product safety to the clients, the SGS “Product Recalls” publication summarizes the notifications of unsafe consumer products in the European, US and the Australian markets. Products Recalls is included in the SafeGuards e.mailing (http://www.sgs.com/en/Our-Company/E-Subscriptions.aspx) twice per month.

Source: RAPEX Annual Report (http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/safety/rapex/docs/2012_rape...).

About SGS Product Safety Services

Throughout a global network, SGS offers consultation and comprehensive testing services covering the full spectrum of international product safety (http://www.sgs.com/en/Consumer-Goods-Retail/Quality-Health-Safety-and-Environment/Product-Safety.aspx) and regulatory standards for a wide range of consumer products.

To know more about our services, please do not hesitate to contact an SGS expert.

Contact details:

SGS Consumer Testing Services
Frédérique Lorber
Global Competence Support Center
Knowledge Management Coordinator
215 Avenue Paul Langevin
13854 Aix En Provence
France

Website: http://www.sgs.com/en/Sustainability.aspx

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 75 000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1 500 offices and laboratories around the world.