A monthly focus on some of the hot topics in non-food consumer product recalls as listed on the EU websites Safety Gate and RASFF as well as the US website of CPSC.
A notification on the EU recall website Safety Gate based on non-compliance with the RoHS Directive was rare. Was. 44 notifications already in the first quarter of this year. What is going on?
Compliance with RoHS directive is often underestimated. Many companies accept a declaration of the supplier as compliance evidence. But even if there is a full testreport of a sample it is recommended to add an additional check.
The restricted heavy metals can be detected via XRF technology. This is recommended way to verify if the mass produced goods are in compliance as well. This detection method is relatively fast and cheap and is non-destructive. You can use it to check packaging materials on the presence of heavy metals at the same time!
In the first quarter of 2019 we already have seen 44 notifications on the EU recall website Safety Gate (RAPEX). Clearly market surveillance authorities are stepping up their efforts.
Compliance with the RoHS directive has to be confirmed via signing of a EU Declaration of Conformity (a CE DoC), a responsibility of the management of the company. Besides the normal measure, the withdrawal of the product from the market, we see now a new measure; “The company is reported to the prosecutor”.
Per coming July 22 the scope of the restricted substances will be expanded with four phthalates:
We recommend to join our workshop to learn more about the impact of these changes.