The EU's Safety Gate Rapid Alert System recorded a record 4,137 alerts last year, almost doubling notifications since 2022.

Safety Gate is the system whereby national authorities can quickly share information and coordinate action with the EU and other member States when unsafe products are detected in their markets.

Of the 4,137 alerts received by the system in 2024, 71 were made in Ireland. Italy had the most alerts at 1,089 ahead of Germany (471), Sweden (376), Hungary (365), the Czech Republic (332) and France (315).

In terms of nations with similar population sizes, Ireland performed better than Denmark (99) but worse than Norway (25) and Croatia (23) as well as larger nations like the Netherlands (54), Belgium (39), Austria (39) and Spain (22).

A total of 4,279 follow-up actions were taken by member States in response to alerts concerning dangerous products, including 221 in Ireland, the ninth-most in the EU after Poland (454), Portugal (333), Bulgaria (313), Greece (275), Denmark (261) Slovenia (256), Norway (236), Finland (223).

Four in 10 (40%) of validated Safety Gate alerts concerned products that originated in China, ahead of the EU/EEA excluding Italy (24%) and Italy (16%). Around 8% of alerts concerned products on unknown origin.

Furthermore, 61% of alerts validated on Safety Gate by the country of origin, excluding alerts on cosmetic products, concerned products from China compared to 19% from EU/EEA and 10% of unknown origin.

Overall, across the EU the most commonly notified product categories were cosmetics (36%), toys (15%) and electrical appliances and equipment (10%), motor vehicles (9%) and chemical products (6%), and the most common risks were chemical (49%), injuries (14%), environment (8%), chocking (7%) and electric shock (7%).

The three most common product categories notified to the Safety Gate system in Ireland were childcare articles and children's equipment (20%), electrical appliances and equipment (18%), and toys (14%). The three most common risks notified in Ireland were burns (27%), choking (25%) and chemicals (23%).

Writing on LinkedIn, European Commissioner for Consumer Protection Michael McGrath highlighted that one of the products flagged in the system was "a perfectly normal doll" that had to be withdrawn due to dangerous chemicals that had been added to the plastic for increased flexibility and durability.

"This is why our high product safety standards are critical; we need to put consumers first and restore their trust in the products that they buy," he continued.

"Over the past year, Safety Gate has enhanced its impact by leveraging new technologies, such as the 'web crawler' e-surveillance tool, scanning websites to identify unsafe products that are still being sold online.

"The initiative is part of our ongoing efforts to improve consumer safety in a rapidly evolving e-commerce world.

"The surge in online sales has raised concerns about product safety, with many low-cost items failing to meet EU safety standards, posing risks to consumers and creating unfair competition for European businesses navigating our Single Market."

In December, the EU implemented the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), which seeks to enforce stricter rules for businesses targeting European consumers. It also introduced a Consumer Safety Gateway for consumers to report problems directly.

"Consumer safety is at the heart of my work; over the next five years, I will work with my services and our national authorities to ensure that only safe products reach our homes," McGrath concluded.

Photo: Michael McGrath with the doll that was flagged in Safety Gate. (Pic: LinkedIn)