[RAPEX] Overview of RAPEX notifications in March 2017

In accordance with the General Product Safety Directive 2001/95/EC (GPSD) and Regulation 765/2008, in March 2017 the European Commission validated 202 notifications on dangerous products and transmitted them to the Member States (EU Member States and EEA-EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). Most of these concerned products presenting serious risk: 154 notifications (76%). 14 notifications (7%) concerned products presenting less than serious risk and 34 notifications (17%) were circulated for information.

Compared to the total number of notifications on dangerous products submitted during the month of March 2016 (151) the number of notifications was 34% higher in March 2017.

1. Notifying country
During the month of March, 25 EU Member States and Iceland sent notifications on dangerous products through the RAPEX system.

The five most frequently notifying countries accounted for 62% of the notifications:

2. Product category
The notifications validated in March covered 22 categories of products.

The five most frequently notified product categories accounted for 70% of all notifications:

3. Type of risk
The notifications validated in March covered 14 different types of risk.

The five most frequently notified risk categories accounted for 83% of all notifications:

4. Country of origin
From the dangerous products notified, about half originated from China. 47 notifications (23%) concerned products originating from EU Member States. 24 notifications (12%) concerned products originating in other countries. In 14 notifications (7%) the information available did not allow for identification of the country of origin of the notified product.

5. Measures adopted
In the month of March, 103 notifications (51%) were of compulsory preventive and restrictive measures ordered by national authorities (‘compulsory measures’). In 94 other notifications (47%), economic operators took preventive and restrictive measures on a ‘voluntary’ basis (‘voluntary measures’), i.e. they complied with their legal obligations without the formal intervention of a national authority. In 5 cases both types of measures were applied. It is very frequent that there is more than one measure adopted in relation to a notified product. That is, it is regularly the case, that when the authorities ordered a sales ban they have also ordered a withdrawal from the market.
There were 10 cases where the compulsory measures were initiated by a customs authority, and this was in Slovenia and Spain.
Number of notifications by type of measure per country (absolute values):

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