Working together for safe products: International Product Safety Week 2014
16 Jun 2014 11:47 AM
Every 2 years, policy
makers, industry, consumer organisations and many others from across the world
gather to discuss how to cooperate in order to reinforce product safety.
This year focus of attention is on strengthening international co-operation and
supporting approaches such as "seamless surveillance" to strengthen
consumer safety at every point of the supply chain from design to
destination.
”In a globalising
world with increasingly global production chains ensuring the safety of
consumers world-wide means we must reach out beyond our borders. Working
together with our international partners on safety issues results in being more
effective in protecting consumers.” said Neven Mimica, EU
Commissioner for Consumer Policy.
European Consumer Policy
Commissioner Neven Mimica, the Executive Director and Chairman-Designate of the
US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Elliot F. Kaye, and Sun Dawei,
the Chinese Vice Minister of the General Administration of Quality Supervision,
Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), will attend some of the many conferences and
events taking place. Of particular note are:
-
The high-level Trilateral
EU-China-US Consumer Safety Summit will take place with the participation of
Commissioner Mimica and his Chinese and US counterparts (19 June). In addition
to Seamless surveillance the topics under discussion include consumer product
tracking and traceability and how best to raise awareness about consumer
product safety.
-
PROSAFE, the umbrella
organisation for market surveillance authorities from across the European
Economic Area, is organising an event to discuss how product safety controls
can improve with strengthened cooperation between different countries, with the
aim to eliminate dangerous consumer products from the market (19
June).
-
International Consumer
Product Health and Safety Organisation (ICPHSO) international symposium,
centred on the theme of international co-operation between product safety
regulators in a changing global economic environment
-
RAPEX-CHINA Working Group
meeting between the EU and Chinese regulators. This session will identify some
of the most pressing challenges faced regulators and surveillance
authorities
Small batteries, big
risks
Tragically in the last few
months fatal accidents involving children were reported in France, Latvia and
the United Kingdom. These accidents had one, small, element in common: button
batteries.
Most consumers are not aware of
the damage button batteries can cause, if swallowed. To help raise awareness
the European Commission will join the OECD’s global campaign, an
International Awareness Week on Button Battery Safety (follow the Twitter
hashtag #worldbatterysafety), from 16-20 June, 2014. The key messages of this
campaign are addressed to consumers/parents and businesses to ensure button
batteries do not end up in the hands of children. An awareness raising event on
the risks of button batteries will be held on 17 June during the International
Product Safety Week.
Background
This is the 5th International
Product Safety Week. The event takes place every two years and gathers consumer
product safety professionals and stakeholders from around the globe,
representing regulators, businesses, consumer organisations and other experts
to work together in advancing product safety issues globally. In previous
editions of the Week, international product safety discussions took place also
with highlights such as in 2012 the launch of the OECD Global Recalls
Portal.
For more information, please
see:
The website of the International
Product Safety Week 2014:
http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/events/ipsw_2014/index_en.htm
The OECD webpage on the
Awareness raising campaign on Button Batteries:
http://www.oecd.org/internet/consumer/consumerproductsafetyworkattheoecd.
htm
Twitter and social
media:
- follow the twitter accounts
@eu_consumer and (Commissioner’s) @MimicaEU
- check the hastags #IPSW2014
and #worldbatterysafety