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The European Commission' s recently released Safety Gate report shows that a total of 5,377 products were withdrawn from sale in the European Union last year for allegedly posing a risk to public health.
Most of the complaints were about toys, where there was a danger of choking by swallowing small parts, such as the eye of a teddy bear (31%), or by suffocation caused in some other way (31%). The danger of strangulation, by, for example, a long cord attached to the toy, is also frequent (8%).
In the Netherlands, we see that the percentage of toy complaints is as high as 72%, but baby items also score high on this list (15%). Think of pacifiers, children's sleeping bags and cribs.
At 10%, we find electrical appliances on the list in the report, where the main concern was the risk of electric shock or the danger of overheating, possibly resulting in a fire.
It is important that your quality system is in order as it ensures that your products are safe and meet the legal requirements. This reduces the risk of accidents and helps prevent recalls, which may result in damage to your image.
An essential part of an adequate quality system is risk assessment. For all products you place on the market, all risks should be identified and it should be determined with which tests these risks can be covered. All collected safety documentation, such as test reports and declarations, must then be prepared, checked and stored in a technical product file.
In addition, certain items, such as electrical and electronic equipment and toys, require CE marking.
Finally, it is important that the quality of production be consistent. Therefore, production should be monitored regularly using sampling and inspections.
When complaints are still reported after these precautions, they should be recorded. Complaint copies should also be investigated further. If the investigation shows that the product is unsafe, you must take corrective measures, such as discontinuing sales or recalling products. You must also notify the market regulators (in the Netherlands, the NVWA) and, in the case of a recall, also warn consumers.
Précon has a team of professionals with years of experience in establishing legal product safety requirements in national and international legislation for multiple retailers and wholesale companies and specializes in building, checking and validating technical product dossiers. Précon can set up a quality system for you that fits your company exactly, which in addition to these components, also includes inspections and complaint registration.
This fulfills the legal obligation to embed these precautions in your quality system and demonstrates that you have done everything possible to bring safe products to market!
We are happy to discuss the possibilities with you. Feel free to contact us at +31 30 65 66 010 or at info@precongroup.com.
Subscribe to our newsletter, our monthly look at food and non-food quality management.