EUROPE: 2019 SUMMARY OF PRODUCT RECALLS FOR CHEMICAL NON-COMPLIANCES (RAPEX / SAFETY GATE)

Posted in Innocuousness on 2020-02-18 by CTC

In order to better understand the practices in terms of surveillance of the European market and to inform manufacturers thereof, CTC carries out weekly monitoring of chemical alerts in the European Safety Gate system (*) targeting fashion articles such as shoes, leather goods, gloves, clothing, jewellery, and personal protective equipment (PPE) in function of the most critical chemicals for the industry, the notifying country (country responsible for the control), the country of production, etc.

The notifications for chemical risk in toys, cosmetic products or electronic accessories are not included in the CTC monitoring.

Web link to view alerts in Safety Gate

(*) Safety Gate (ex RAPEX) rapid alert system enables quick exchange of information between EU/EEA member states and the European Commission about dangerous non-food products posing a risk to health and safety of consumers. Other Member States can thus monitor their market and take action if the same products are identified.

Overview of notifications for 2019 (reports 1 to 51) - FOCUS CTC

Dangerous chemical substances

January 2020 - Any reproduction prohibited without the authorization of CTC

For the notified dangerous articles, the most common measures are the prohibition or the cessation of the sale, the withdrawal from the market, the recall by the manufacturer and the refusal of importation by the customs authorities.

The notifications for chemical risk are mainly linked to non-compliance with the restrictions defined in the European regulations R EACh n° 1907/2006 and POP n° 2019/1021 (Persistent Organic Pollutants), such as: hexavalent chromium in leather articles (Annex XVII of REACh), nickel released in jewellery or metallic parts of articles in contact with the skin (Annex XVII of REACh), chlorinated paraffin in C10-C13 in articles (POP), etc.

Summary of notifications for 2019 - FOCUS CTC

The graphics below present the statistics calculated by CTC from the data published in the "Safety Gate" database for the whole of 2019, on more than 110 notifications for chemical risk in the articles followed by CTC.

Top 3 in 2019:

CHEMICAL SUBSTANCE: hexavalent chromium 28% / cadmium 23% / nickel 20%
ARTICLE: jewellery 52% / shoes 10% / accessory-sport 9%
NOTIFYING COUNTRY: Germany 31% / Sweden 26% / Italy 12%
COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: China 58% / Unknown country 7% / India 6%

In 2019, only one recall was notified in the European database by the French authorities for the items tracked by CTC: it concerns hexavalent chromium in a leather item. However, it should be noted that other reminders for chemical risks were published on the French site of the Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) during the year (link: https://www.economie.gouv.fr/dgccrf/securite/avis-rappels-produits).

Notification-Safety-Gate-in-2019-per-chemical-substances---CTC-Focus

January 2020 - Any reproduction prohibited without the authorization of CTC

Notification-Safety-Gate-in-2019-per-article---CTC-Focus

January 2020 - Any reproduction prohibited without the authorization of CTC

Notification-Safety-Gate-in-2019-per-notifying-country---CTC-Focus

January 2020 - Any reproduction prohibited without the authorization of CTC

Notification-Safety-Gate-in-2019-per-country-of-origin--CTC-Focus

January 2020 - Any reproduction prohibited without the authorization of CTC