Safe non-food consumer Products in the EU and China
The European Union has a well-established and robust consumer product safety framework, based on sector-specific legislation and the General Product Safety Directive as well as on voluntary technical standards for products.
Information on common product safety issues has been collected by the European Commission for many years. It is shared between individual member state market surveillance authorities and the Commission.
The worldwide demand and production for toys is very high and significant. The EU is focused on stopping dangerous toys to both protect EU consumers and support compliant businesses.
Children and infants (children under three years of age) are very vulnerable to dangerous products as they are not able to recognise hazards and avoid injury.
We all use electricity in our lives every day, and it is quite easy to forget how it can harm us if the products we use have not been made to the high standards of safety required by European Union Single Market rules.
It is important for manufacturers to have a good understanding of risk and the probability and/or severity of the consequences their products could pose to consumers, in order to be able to take necessary action to reduce or remove those risks.
A manufacturer can only place a product on the EU market when it meets all the applicable requirements. The conformity assessment procedure is carried out before the product can be sold.
The letters ‘CE’ appear on many products traded on the extended Single Market in the European Union (EU). They signify that products sold in the EU have been assessed to meet high safety, health, and environmental protection requirements.
The legislative framework of the EU covering product safety is quite complex and detailed, because it has to cover a multitude of different products and a changing landscape of new technologies and product developments.
It has become very common for business to sell products online due to the benefits of reduced operational costs and the ability to access a global market.
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