Keeping consumers safe: Cosmetics top the list of products notified in Safety Gate in 2023

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission.

Today, the European Commission published its annual report on Safety Gate, the European Rapid Alert System for dangerous non-foods products. The report covers alerts notified in 2023, as well as the corresponding follow-up actions taken by national authorities of the EU Member States, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.

In 2023, cosmetics was the most frequent type of product notified as posing a health risk. Last year marked the highest amount of alerts recorded since the launch of the system in 2003, which speaks to its increasing effectiveness and the crucial role it plays.

Main findings of the report

In 2023, authorities from the 30 participating countries of the Safety Gate network notified 3,412 alerts and 4,287 follow-up actions. In every Member State, market surveillance authorities followed up on the alerts regularly and exchanged additional information. For example, the Lithuanian authorities identified a body cream which contained prohibited chemicals and subsequently notified the hazard on Safety Gate. Thanks to this notification, Polish authorities could then withdraw the product from their market, and Slovenia was able to recall it from end users. 

In 2023, risks related to chemicals, injuries, choking, and risks to the environment were the most notified. Cosmetics topped the most common categories of product notified, followed by toys, motor vehicles, electrical appliances, and clothes. This can be explained by an increased level of monitoring of cosmetics from market surveillance authorities to check for the presence of banned dangerous chemical ingredients.

Most of the cosmetics notified were reported to contain BMHCA, a banned synthetic fragrance, which can harm fertility and cause skin irritation. Substances that cause a risk to both human health and the environment were also found in electrical appliances, such as lead in solders. E-cigarettes with excessive nicotine content and toys containing phthalates also made up for a significant share of alerts.

Next steps

In December 2024, the General Product Safety Regulation will enter into application and replace the General Product Safety Directive. From this point on, a modernised future-proof framework will apply to ensure the safety of products on the EU market, regardless of the origin of the products and whether they are sold in shops or online.

It will significantly improve the enforcement of product safety rules, steamline market surveillance and the recalling of dangerous non-food products.

Background

Since 2003, the Safety Gate has enabled a quick exchange of information among EU/EEA Member States and the European Commission about dangerous non-food products posing a risk to the health and safety of consumers. Appropriate follow-up has to be taken by the national authorities so that the notified dangerous products are removed from the market.

To facilitate the transmission of information to the public, the Commission also manages the Safety Gate public website. The alerts are translated into all EU languages, in addition to Icelandic, Norwegian, Arabic, and Ukrainian. Businesses also have at their disposal the Business Safety Gateway to inform national authorities quickly and efficiently about safety concerns regarding a product that they have put on the market. This tool will become compulsory under the General Product Safety Regulation.

During the 2023 Consumer Summit, 11 online marketplaces signed the Product Safety Pledge+, a revised version of the original Product Safety Pledge, which sets out 20 areas where the signatories have committed to going beyond legal requirements to ensure the safety of the products they sell online. These online marketplaces are bol.com, eMAG, Wish.com, AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Rakuten France, Allegro, Cdiscount, Etsy and Joom. The latest progress report of the original Product Safety Pledge is available online.

In 2022, the Commission also launched the e-surveillance tool “web crawler”. The tool provides support to national market surveillance enforcement authorities by detecting online offers of dangerous products signalled in Safety Gate. It identifies and automatically lists any of these offers, allowing enforcement authorities to track down the provider and order the effective withdrawal of these offers, helping to harmonise actions and address the challenges of monitoring the online sales of dangerous products. In the past 6 months, the tool has helped process 3,882 alerts, which resulted in almost 789,003 websites analysed and 41,367 suspicious web shops identified.

For More Information

2023 Annual Safety Gate report and factsheet

GPSR – General Product Safety Regulation

Safety Gate – https://ec.europa.eu/safety-gate

Business Safety Gateway – https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/gpsd/screen/public/home

Product Safety Pledge+ – Product Safety Pledge+

Quote(s)

Product safety is the backbone of consumer protection. Today, even the most ordinary objects surrounding us are the result of complex processes that could potentially be harmful. Throughout the years, we have developed a comprehensive and modern instrument to tackle the presence of dangerous products on our market and ensure the safety of the goods on our shelves. The record number of alerts on Safety Gate prove the efficiency of our cooperation and tools, which is only set to increase with the upcoming application of the General Product Safety Regulation.

Didier Reynders, Commissioner for Justice