1. European Rapid Alert System for Dangerous Consumer Products
‘RAPEX’
European Rapid Alert System for Dangerous Consumer Products
Stefano Soro Head of Product Safety Unit Health and Consumers DG European Commission

2. OBJECTIVE
to provide a rapid exchange of information between European countries and European Commission about measures and actions taken in relation to consumer products posing a serious risk to the health and safety of consumers

3. LEGAL FRAMEWORK
RAPEX was established under the General Product Safety Directive (2001/95/EC)
Applies to consumer products
Provides general safety requirements
Provides conformity assessment criteria
Imposes obligations on producers & distributors, European countries and European Commission
Establishes RAPEX
RAPEX Guidelines – define the operation of the RAPEX system (2004/418/EC)

4. RAPEX MEMBERS 30 European countries:
27 Member States of the European Union
3 EFTA/EEA countries
(no internal borders + harmonized requirements for products)
Access to RAPEX is open to third countries under conditions specified in the GPSD.

5. RAPEX NETWORKS RAPEX Contact Points network at the European level:
1 single Contact Point per Member State
National RAPEX networks in Member States. They include:
RAPEX Contact Point
Market surveillance authorities
Customs authorities

6. RAPEX NOTIFICATION CRITERIA
Non-food consumer product
Serious risks to the health and safety of consumers
Restrictive and preventive measures adopted by authorities (“obligatory measures”) or by economic operators (“voluntary measures”)
“Cross border effect”

7. RAPEX WEBSITE www.ec.europa.eu/rapex
Information to the public on dangerous products:
Weekly overviews of RAPEX notifications on products posing serious risks
Latest safety news
Contact details of the RAPEX Contact Points
Legal documents and guidelines

8. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
Bilateral cooperation
China – AQSIQ, EU-China High Level Dialogue; product safety on the agenda
U.S. - CPSC, US-EU Transatlantic Economic Council; focus on product/import safety
Trilateral co-operation
Joint China-U.S.-EU Initiative
High-Level Trilateral EU-China-U.S. Summit
Multilateral co-operation
OECD; Roundtable on Product Safety, CCP
ICPSC / ICPHSO: Multilateral cooperation between regulators
ISO/COPOLCO: International standardisation

9. “RAPEX-CHINA” application
System operational since May 2006 – allows AQSIQ to tackle safety issues at source
Feedback from AQSIQ every 3 months
RAPEX – China WG meetings
AQSIQ reporting
7 reports between September 2006 and August 2008
Average of 80 investigations per quarter (peak in summer 2007 with 184 investigations)

10. “RAPEX-CHINA” application
AQSIQ has so far investigated 599 cases
In 51% of cases this has resulted in corrective action, such as export bans and strengthened supervision over Chinese companies
The lack of measures in the remaining cases was mostly due to incorrect or insufficient information on the Chinese manufacturers

11. RAPEX ELEMENTS Legal framework (GPSD, Guidelines)
Online application ‘REIS’
RAPEX Contact Points Network at the EU level
National RAPEX networks at the MS level
Commission RAPEX Team
RAPEX Contact Points Working Group
International cooperation
RAPEX website
RAPEX publications
Program of seminars and trainings

12. RAPEX STATISTICS
2008 data is based on an extrapolation of data for the first 9 months of the year

13. RAPEX STATISTICS Toys: 33% Electrical appliances: 12%
Motor vehicles: 11%
Clothing, textiles, fashion items: 8%
Childcare articles and children’s equipment: 6%

14. RAPEX STATISTICS Injuries: 20% Chemical: 18% Choking: 16%
Electric shock: 16%
Fire: 10%

15. RAPEX STATISTICS China: 55% Unknown: 11% Germany: 6% Italy: 4%
Hong Kong: 3%

16. PLANS FOR 2009 New RAPEX Guidelines ! to clarify the scope of RAPEX
to better explain the notification criteria
to introduce new provisions on languages
to better regulate RAPEX procedures (e.g. follow up to suspended notifications)
to explain rules on confidentiality
...

17. PLANS FOR 2009 New Risk Assessment Guidelines !
Process (1/3)
To eliminate diverging risk assessment results
9 WG meetings Stakeholder Workshop Dec 2007
Public internet consultation Aug – Oct 2008
10th and final meeting in Dec 2008
1 ... OJ L 208, , p. 73.

18. New Risk Assessment Guidelines
Changes (2/3)
Develop an injury scenario: "Let the accident happen."
Combine the severity of consumer's injury with its probability: Read the risk level from a table.
Develop further injury scenarios -> further risks: Highest risk = risk of the product

19. New Risk Assessment Guidelines
Advantages (3/3)
More transparent -> More consensus
Better separation of hazard and probability
Examples and assistance provided by tables

20. Head of Product Safety Unit Health and Consumers DG
CONTACT DETAILS
Stefano Soro
Head of Product Safety Unit
Health and Consumers DG
European Commission
Office B232 6/116, 1049 Brussels, Belgium 20