How is the availability of safe products throughout the EU ensured?

Producers are required under legislation to place only safe products on the market. Producers must take into account:

• The characteristics of the product such as composition or packaging;

• Its effects on other products where it is foreseeable that it will be used with other products;

• The presentation of the product, its labelling and any instructions for its use and disposal;

• The categories of consumers at serious risk when using the products, in particular children.

There are also Community rules governing liability for defective products. If a consumer is the victim of a defective product, the producer of that product will be liable for damage caused by the fact that the product did not offer the safety which could reasonably have been expected.