What you need to know about product safety in the EU
In the EU, only safe products can be placed or made available on the market. This applies to all products, be they new, second-hand, refurbished or reconditioned. It applies also to all types of sales, be they online, offline or other distance sales.
The EU has a whole range of legislation and rules that help to define under which condition a product is safe or not. Products that do not comply with EU law on product safety should not be for sale.
Businesses have clear obligations related to product safety to ensure that you as a consumer do not come into contact with dangerous products. If it still happens that a dangerous product is found on the EU market, there are clear obligations for the businesses to correct the situation and powers for the national authorities to take measures to protect you against dangerous products.
What is a dangerous product?
It is a product which, under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use, presents a risk to health and safety of consumers. It can present both a physical or mental health risk.
What to do if you encounter a dangerous product?
In the EU, only safe products can be placed or made available on the market. This applies to all products, be they new, second-hand, refurbished or reconditioned. It applies also to all types of sales, be they online, offline or other distance sales.
- Stop using the product and go to a doctor if feeling unwell.
- If you are aware that you have bought a dangerous product and this product is recalled, you should respond to this recall immediately.
- Report a safety incident caused by a product.
- You should also report any serious suspicions about the safety of a product you bought. This information might help taking out that dangerous product of the market and protecting other consumers.
Who is responsible for product safety in the EU?
Manufacturers, distributors and retailers have the obligation to produce or sell only safe products and to signal any problem to the corresponding authority. If the product is already in users’ homes, they have to organise a recall to recover the products before these may cause any harm.
National authorities are responsible for monitoring their markets to make sure no dangerous products are offered for sale, be it offline or online to their consumers. For this, they organise inspections and the testing of products in specialised laboratories. When they find a dangerous product, they take measures so it is withdrawn from the market, recalled from consumers or destroyed. They can also request online marketplaces to takedown the listings of that product from their websites. Online marketplaces that have signed the EU Product Safety Pledge commit to make this procedure more effective and quicker.
National authorities share the information about all these measures taken against dangerous products by using the Safety Gate portal, published in the form of alerts. This rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products has been running since 2004. It enables the sharing of information on these measures through all national authorities of all EU and EEA countries, so that the same product can be detected everywhere and dealt with by all national authorities so that all EU consumers are protected.
How to buy safe
- Check if you can see the contact details of the producer;
- Register your product where the possibility is provided;
- Check that the product has the necessary instructions of use in your language;
- Make sure the product can be assembled correctly and, if that is the case, that it is stable and safe for normal use once assembled;
- Check any labels, such as containing dangerous chemicals or easy flammability;
- Check any suspicious chemical smell which could be linked to hazardous chemicals;
- You can find the contacts in the national authorities for consumer questions and support about product safety here.
- Before buying a product, you can check an official database of alerts to check it has not been banned from the market, such as the EU Safety Gate or the database of your national authority.
Check for additional safety tips if you buy online.
Take a special attention to products that you buy for children.
For more information:
- Check also the website of your national authority for more information about product safety in your country.
- Contact your European Consumer Centre to know about your rights as a consumer.
Become an EU product safety ambassador and help spreading the information about product safety around!