EC plans audit of toy safety measures

Although progress has been made to improve the product safety of toys imported into the EU, there is room for improvement, said European Commissioner Meglena Kuneva.

Commissioner Kuneva said: ‘The current EU legislative framework is basically capable of ensuring a high level of consumer protection and facilitating intra-community trade at the same time…When properly applied.’

The Commissioner was speaking at a press conference on Thursday November 22 in Brussels.

She said the European Commission would carry out an audit of business safety measures in the toy supply chain that would deliver its results in the first quarter of 2008. Recommended actions would be implemented with industry in 2008, she added.

“The current EU legislative framework is basically capable of ensuring a high level of consumer protection and facilitating intra-community trade at the same time…When properly applied.

European Commissioner Meglena Kuneva

‘I intend to work with the Member States to drive forwards necessary improvements to the enforcement practice. The current, positive efforts have to be sustained and supported, where necessary, by proportionate, targeted and risk-based measures,’ she said.

The report will also include the results of the third EU China Rapid Alert System (RAPEX) Report on enforcement actions taken by the Chinese Authorities.

She added that the figures from the EU-wide RAPEX gave cause for concern—the RAPEX annual report in 2006 shows that out of all the alerts for dangerous consumer goods on the European market, 50% were for goods of Chinese origin. Adding that, the large number of alerts was also a function of the massive export flows in traded goods from China to the EU.