Helsinki, 13 December 2023 – The national enforcement authorities in 26 EU countries checked over 2 400 products, most of them intended for consumers, and found more than 400 of them breaching the EU’s chemicals laws.

The most common product types breaching the laws were:

• Electrical devices such as electrical toys, chargers, cables, headphones. 52
• Sports equipment like yoga mats, bicycle gloves, balls or rubber handles of sport equipment. 18
• Toys like bathing/aquatic toys, dolls, costumes, play mats, plastic figures, fidget toys, outdoor toys, slime and childcare articles. 16
• Fashion products such as bags, jewellery, belts, shoes and clothes. 15

In cases where non-compliant products were found, inspectors have taken enforcement measures, with most of them resulting in the withdrawal of such products from the market.

The non-compliance rate was higher in products which originated from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) or whose origin was not known.

Background
This enforcement project checked if different types of products that are sold to consumers and professional users on the EEA market comply with the EU chemical regulations.

The project covered REACH restrictions, duties applicable to substances in articles under REACH, POPs restrictions and restrictions derived from the Toys and the RoHS Directives. The checks were carried out by the national enforcement authorities in 26 countries during 2022.

Further information

• FORUM project report: Integrated chemical compliance of products [PDF][EN]
• Enforcement Forum

Press contact: Mikko Väänänen, press@echa.europa.eu, +358 40 520 3513

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is an Agency of the European Union implementing EU chemical regulations. We, together with our partners, work for the safe use of chemicals.
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