Prosafe, which stands for Product Safety Enforcement Forum of Europe, was established by market surveillance officers from various countries within the European Economic Area.
For the past seven years, Prosafe has coordinated a number of joint actions which focused on specific consumer products to ensure they are safe for European consumers.
During these joint actions, participating member states work together to sample, test and, if necessary, remove dangerous products from the European market.
Malta, through the Technical Regulations Division within the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority, is an active participant of these joint actions.
Within each joint action, the participating European countries work together to investigate the safety of specific types of product. This usually involves developing a sampling plan, drawing up a test protocol, often based on the applicable voluntary standards and having the products tested.
The participating countries then implement corrective action as necessary. This approach has proven to be enormously successful in promoting the establishment and widespread use of best practice in Europe. The last Joint Action undertaken by Prosafe members, Joint Action 2010, which officially came to a close last April, brought together 21 European countries to sample and test five consumer products.
Malta, through the MCCA, was leading this action and participated very actively in the various product groups. These were: children’s fancy dress costumes; food imitation products; ladders; laser pointers; and visibility clothing and accessories.
This joint action is partly financed by the European Commission.
Children’s fancy dress costumes
Out of 237 products sampled, 64 items were non-compliant, mostly due to a lack of warnings about the fabric’s flammability.
Food imitation products
In this category, 379 products were inspected: 60 cosmetics, 254 decorative items, 43 toys and 22 other products. Only 113 products were suspected as being potentially dangerous and hence sent to a lab for tests. Eighty-four of these products failed the safety test. Malta took an active part in this product group and sent 15 samples to the Netherlands for testing in an accredited lab.
Laser pointers
A total of 167 samples of laser pointers were taken: 74 per cent were class 3, which are not fit to be sold to consumers; 95 per cent of these were not correctly labelled. Malta also took an active part in this product group and sent eight samples to Austria.
Ladders
Of the 38 ladders tested, 24 presented risks, the majority due to inadequate strength. Though not participating directly in this task, Malta still managed to forward two samples of ladders for testing.
Visibility clothing and accessories
Out of the 135 products inspected, 39 samples were tested. These included 20 pieces of clothing and 19 accessories. Only nine items failed the tests. Seven pieces of clothing failed the retro-reflective performance test and two accessories failed the photometric test.
These results are based on samples of the products from the markets in the participating countries. As in any routine market surveillance activity, the results represent the targeted efforts authorities undertake to identify unsafe products. The products sampled were tested at accredited laboratories. The tests focused on those safety requirements that have the largest impact on consumer safety.
Following sampling and testing, member states participating in the joint action took the appropriate enforcement actions. The results of the Joint Action have also made a significant impact on the vast majority of Rapex (EU rapid alert system) notifications. In fact, clothing and textiles were mostly reported under Rapex during 2012.
The joint actions helped in improving the enforcement work carried out by the authorities in EU countries. The European Commission states this improvement is reflected in the 26 per cent rise in Rapex alerts when compared with 2011 figures.
odette.vella@mccaa.org.mt
The information provided in this article was obtained from the Joint Action 2010 newsletter, published by Prosafe on June 3.
Odette Vella is senior information officer, Office for Consumer Affairs, Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority.