Today, the European Commission presented its latest report on the Rapid Alert System for dangerous products. In 2016, the system was more actively used by national authorities, who removed more dangerous products from stores.
However, more and more of the dangerous products notified in the Rapid Alert System are sold on online platforms. This is why the Commission has stepped up its cooperation with Amazon, Ebay and Alibaba to tackle more actively potentially unsafe or non-compliant products from their websites which sell to consumers in the EU. Věra Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality said: “Consumers need to be protected from dangerous products. And this protection must apply both online and offline. Therefore I am pleased that we could agree with Amazon, Ebay and Alibaba to join efforts to remove products notified through the Rapid Alert System from their websites, and I call on others to follow suit. I am also satisfied that we have made some progress related to China, with the numbers of dangerous goods imported on the decrease this year. This shows that our cooperation with China and our persistence to demand high standards is paying off.”
