The majority of the 4,127 cases of harmful non-food products reported to the EU’s Safety Gate market tracker last year—the most since the quick warning system was implemented in 2003 and treble the amount recorded just two years ago—were toys and other Chinese goods.
Cosmetics remained the most commonly reported product category, accounting for more than one-third of the total. The synthetic perfume butylphenyl methylpropional, marketed under the trade name Lilial and called for its flowery scent, was present in an astounding 97% of them.
The compound is being studied as a possible endocrine disruptor and is listed by the European Chemicals Agency as harmful to fertility and likely to produce a skin allergic response.
The new regulation will require all dangerous toys sold both online and offline to carry a Digital Product Passport to prevent them from entering the EU. The alarm system also flags other types of items, such as chemical products (6%), automobiles (9%), and electrical appliances (10%).
The European consumer rights organisation BEUC said that the rising tendency of purchasing items via websites and smartphone applications and a lack of enforcement are more to blame for the issue than a lack of regulation.
To safeguard consumers from dangerous items, market surveillance agencies require greater financial, technological, and human resources, as well as more robust legal enforcement capabilities against online markets. Agustín Reyna, director of BEUC, stated.
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