Malta makes more reports of dangerous consumer goods

Better surveillance has led to a sharp increase in the number of potentially dangerous consumer goods found on the Maltese market.

The authorities last year detected a total of 14 such products compared to just one reported in 2008.

The figure is given in the 2009 report compiled by Rapex, the EU rapid alert system for dangerous products. These products are reported to Rapex so they can also be recalled from the markets of the other EU member states.

The ones found in Malta were mainly imported from China. They included lighters, toys, insecticides and electronic appliances such as water heaters, plug adapters and night lights. However, some of them came in from normally "safer" markets such as Italy and the UK.

These products posed a series risk to the health of consumers including choking by children, electric shocks, burns and chemical injuries, according to the report submitted by the Malta Standards Authority (MSA), which is responsible for the island's market surveillance.

In all of Malta's cases but one, the dangerous products found were voluntarily withdrawn from the market by the importer or the trader following a warning from the authorities.

On the other hand, in the case of an imported travel adapter which posed a serious risk of electrical shock, the authorities had to impose a sales ban and a recall of all the items sold.

"Malta has clearly increased its surveillance and this is mainly why we have seen a sharp increase in the number of dangerous products notified to the European Commission by Malta," a Commission official told The Times.

"It is also a fact that cheap is not always safe and, unfortunately, the number of cheap but unsafe products being detected in the EU markets is on the increase," he added.

In fact, the number of dangerous consumer products across the EU notified through the rapid alert system rose by seven per cent in 2009 over 2008.

The Commission said the rise in the number of goods, from 1,866 to 1,993 shows that the capacity of the Rapex system has increased again, following more effective market surveillance by member states.

According to Brussels, European businesses are also taking their responsibilities in the consumer product safety area more seriously and recall unsafe products from the market more readily.

Toys (472 notifications), clothing and textiles (395 notifications) and motor vehicles (146 notifications) accounted for 60 per cent of all notifications on products posing a serious risk in 2009. Electrical appliances (138 notifications) were the fourth most frequently notified category of product.

The countries making most notifications were Spain (220 notifications), Germany (187 notifications), Greece (154 notifications), Bulgaria (122 notifications) and Hungary (119 notifications).

As regards the countries of origin, the number of notifications on products from China sent through Rapex accounted for 60 per cent in 2009, a small increase of one per cent over the previous year.