The authorities in the 30 countries participating in the Safety Gate network notified 3,412 alerts and 4,287 follow-up actions in 2023, according to the European Commission’s latest report on product safety, published on Thursday 14 March.
And cosmetics topped the list of most frequently notified product categories, followed by toys, motor vehicles, electrical appliances and clothing.
In 2023, risks relating to chemical, injury, choking and the environment were the most frequently notified. Most of the cosmetics notified contained BMHCA, a banned synthetic fragrance that can harm fertility and cause skin irritation, explains the Commission in a press release.
Substances posing a risk to human health and the environment were also found in electrical appliances, such as lead in solder. E-cigarettes with excessive nicotine content and toys containing phthalates also account for a significant proportion of alerts.
The report includes data from the EU Member States, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
Notifications concerning cosmetics rose to 32% in 2023, compared with 10% in 2022. This can be explained by the fact that market surveillance authorities are increasingly checking cosmetics for the presence of banned dangerous chemical ingredients, explains the Commission.
Excluding cosmetics, the report shows that more than half of the notifications (52%) concern products from China.
And with 825 notifications, Italy is the country that reported the most risks in 2023, followed by Germany, Sweden and France.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/bbl (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)