China tops EU report on dangerous consumer goods

(BRUSSELS) - China produces nearly half of all the dangerous consumer goods listed in an annual European Union report published Thursday.

European children were on the receiving end of many of the banned or withdrawn goods, including Finnish teddies with eyes which fall off, Thai baby's bibs with high lead content and dangerous plastic ducks of unknown origin.

In the children's toys category China, the main producer of consumer goods bound for Europe, was found responsible for 85 percent of the problems.

In total last year, 440 different products from China, ranging from cosmetics to computer hardware, were notified as dangerous, over 10 times more than the figure for Germany which ranked second on the list.

Those two were followed by Italy, the United States, Japan and Britain, which all had 20-plus products on the dangerous list. For 17 percent of the products listed the country of origin was unknown.

In total, restrictive measures concerning 924 dangerous products were reported through Europe's Rapid Alert System for non-food consumer products (RAPEX) in 2006, a 32-percent leap from the previous year.

For European Commissioner for Consumer affairs, Meglena Kuneva the rise was a positive sign.

"The constant increase in the number of measures notified is a good sign, it shows that vigilance across Europe is getting better and better," she said.

"Today's annual report shows that the system in 2006 is working better than ever before. My task is to make it grow to its full potential."

Children's toys easily topped the list of unsafe consumer items, followed by electrical appliances, motor vehicles and lighting equipment.

The European Union is doing more than just logging the culprits, where it deems necessary it has taken action.

Last month for instance it introduced a ban on the sale of novelty cigarette lighters and any others considered dangerous to children.

The ban forbids the sale of lighters which resemble objects that are particularly attractive to children -- such as toys, mobile phones, guns and cars -- and any others that are not "child-resistant".

The EU is also seeking to stop the products at their source, with a particular emphasis on China.

In January, the Commission and the Chinese government signed a "memorandum of understanding" aimed at establishing better communication and cooperation on consumer product safety and to help Chinese authorities ensure product safety.

It puts in place a number of practical measures, including joint meetings, exchanges of information and follow-up on emerging safety issues.

Besides this general framework, a specific roadmap for safer toys was signed in September 2006.

Kuneva announced that she plans a visit to Beijing in the autumn.

RAPEX 2006 Annual Report 2006