Product safety

The rules on product safety in the EU date back to 2001. Since products and markets have fundamentally changed in the meantime, the rules require an urgent update . The new challenges for the safety of products entering the EU’s internal market, apply to product safety legislation, market surveillance and customs controls.

Consumers trust that the products they buy in shops or online are safe and comply with European rules. Unfortunately, today, this is too often not the case. With the rise of large online marketplaces, the number of unsafe products entering the EU is increasing. Connected devices and new technologies pose new risks both to life and limb and to consumers’ privacy. In addition, the enforcement of existing rules is often not yet adapted to the new reality.

The Federation of German Consumer Organisations (Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband – vzbv) advocates for strong product safety rules so that consumers can trust the safety of products they buy in the EU internal market.