Dangerous Chinese goods flooding into EU
Thursday, 19 April 2007 13:59
China has been named as the producer of nearly half of all dangerous consumer goods in the European Union, according to a new report.
The EU annual report on unsafe goods found that 440 different products from China, ranging from toys to cigarette lighters, were notified as being dangerous in 2006.
The figure is ten times that of Germany, which was ranked second on the list.
Italy, the US, Japan and Britain all had 20-plus products on the dangerous list.
Children's toys topped the list of unsafe consumer items followed by electrical appliances, motor vehicles and lighting equipment.
In total, restrictive measures concerning 924 dangerous products were reported through Europe's Rapid Alert System for non-food consumer products (RAPEX) in 2006.
This was a 32% leap from the previous year.
European Commissioner for Consumer affairs, Meglena Kuneva says however that the rise is a good sign.
She says it points to improved consumer vigilance throughout Europe.
