Chinese toys top EU recall statistics

CHINESE-made toys accounted for the majority of dangerous goods discovered and taken off the market in the EU last year.

There was an increase of 53% in the number of unsafe goods reported throughout the EU while the figure for Ireland more than doubled compared with 2006, statistics have shown.

This follows recalls of 20 million toys because of unsafe magnets and other problems with some of the world’s most popular toys such as Barbie dolls and alerts because of dangerous chemicals found in toothpaste.

The EU’s consumer safety commissioner, Maglena Kuneva, said the increase in reports of dangerous products did not necessarily mean there were more of them on the market, but that the number being picked up had increased.

More than a third of the non-food goods reported were children’s toys and equipment, followed by electrical appliances, lighting equipment and cosmetics.

The injuries they were found to cause varied from cuts and bruises to choking, electric shock, fire and chemical risk.

More than half the goods taken off the market were manufactured in China, which was an increase on the previous year. Almost a quarter of the defective goods were made in the EU while 13% did not say where they were made.

Ms Kuneva, announcing the figures yesterday, said she is continuing to pursue the issue with the Chinese authorities. They have set up an alert system in China similar to the EU system, known as RAPEX (rapid alert system for non-food consumer products), to spread the word on suspect goods and have them recalled as soon as possible.

More than 80% of all toys sold in the EU are made in China, usually to specifications from big western toy companies. Pressure on China to improve, including a threat to ban toys, had met with some success, said Ms Kuneva.

“The Chinese Government has realised the importance of product safety and of protecting the ‘Made in China’ brand”, she said.

Producers may be deliberately trying to hide the origin of goods by not giving this information on the product, but the proportion of them had decreased slightly this year, she said.

RAPEX is the EU’s consumer safety net set up four years ago that links bodies responsible for consumer safety in each member state. Whenever they find an unsafe product they alert one another. The number of goods that do not say where they came from had decreased slightly but it may be that producers are deliberately trying to hide their origin.

Member states withdrew 1,605 products they considered posed a serious risk to people. There were 33 from Ireland, up from 14 the previous year.

* Consumers can check on alerts on the RAPEX website: http://ec.europa.eu/rapex