Offering safe products within the EU
Do you offer a consumer product (non-food) on the European market? Then that product must be safe for consumers. Read about the European safety requirements. And about your obligations as a manufacturer, importer, distributor or fulfilment centre.
What is product safety?
Product safety is the protection of consumers from all types of risks when using a product. For example, toys must not contain any hazardous substances, or have any dangerous shapes. Smart devices must not be hackable, and the batteries of rechargeable devices must not overheat and cause fires. In the EU, there are rules to ensure that all products on the EU market are safe for consumers. Which rules a product must comply with depends on the product's properties. You can check that here.
What do you need to do for product safety?
What you need to do to ensure product safety and what you are responsible for depends on your role in the production chain. European legislation says that for every product placed on the market, a market participant in the European Union must be responsible for the safety of that product. This also applies to products from outside the EU.
Determine your role first
Use the online tool to determine exactly what role you have. For example, manufacturer, importer, or distributor. You can also have several roles for different products at the same time. So, check what your role in the chain is for each product. Is the outcome that you are not a market participant? Then you have no obligations under EU product legislation.
Go to the online tool to determine your role
What happens if your product is unsafe?
If you sell a product that does not meet the safety requirements then you run the following risks:
- You must inform the consumers who have already bought the product and offer repair or their money back.
- You must announce publicly that the product is not compliant.
- You must pay for damages if your product is involved in an accident.
- You will be fined by a supervising authority (toezichthouder).
A recall can cost a lot of money and negatively impact your company's image.
Which products?
The EU General Product Safety Regulations (GPSR) deals with product safety of consumer products marketed in the EU. It does not matter whether the product is free or paid for. It also covers software (updates), digital products, and second-hand products. A product is safe when it does not pose a physical or mental danger or risk to the user when it is used normally.
Product safety supervising authorities and inspectorates
There are several product safety supervising authorities and inspectorates in the Netherlands. For each product (group) you may have to deal with different supervising authorities. For example, for plastic toys, you have to deal with the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA). For the environmental requirements for the substances from which the toy is made, you have to deal with the Inspectorate for the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT).
These are the supervising authorities for non-food consumer products: