bol.com, eMAG, Wish.com, AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Rakuten France, Allegro, Cdiscount, Etsy and Joom have signed the “Commitment for Better Product Safety” to remove dangerous products from their websites in cooperation with the EU member states.

The Freiburg-based Öko-Institut recommends putting an end to the exemption for cadmium-containing material layers in displays in the RoHS Directive. This would mean that such materials are likely to be prohibited in 2022. In addition, it should be borne in mind that materials such as cadmium that fall under an RoHS exemption may still need to be reported as a SVHC under REACh.

On 2 March 2021, the European Commission published its annual report on Safety Gate, which is the EU’s rapid alert system for dangerous consumer products and helps remove dangerous non-food products from the market. According to the report, toys were the product category with the highest number of alerts, followed by electrical appliances and accessories as well as products associated with COVID-19.

From 21 July 2021, certain disposable plastic articles (EU 2019/904) such as hygiene pads, wet wipes, tobacco products with filters as well as drinking cups are required to be labelled as plastic products with the respective specified label of the national versions of the sales countries.

As at 21 July 2021, some exemptions from the RoHS Directive are set to expire. In particular, lead-containing components and materials such as high-current connections on printed circuit boards, brass and aluminium alloys are also included. Distributors of products containing materials with more than 0.1 per cent lead should keep an eye on the decision of the EU Commission. Should any exemptions be withdrawn, then there will probably be a twelve-month transition period to replace the materials in question.

Topic of this Compliance Talk: Non-food products are subject to numerous rules and regulations within the European Union (EU), with which compliance must be ensured by the manufacturer and/or importer. An authorised representative as contemplated by the Product Safety Act (ProdSG) – also known as EU-REP – established in the European Economic Area can assist manufacturers and importers in fulfilling certain obligations. This concerns, among other things, obligations from the ProdSG, but also the Market Surveillance Regulation (EU 2019/1020). In this case, the European Authorised Representative acts as a link between the manufacturer and the market surveillance authorities and keeps extensive information available. In the process, the authorised representative is required to perform specific tasks that will be discussed in this video.

In the current draft of the German Medical Products Law Implementation Act (MPDG), Art. 6 of (EU) Regulation 2017/745 on distance selling of medical products is likewise taken into account. This serves to close a gap in market surveillance of medical products offered online. This means that online platforms can be blocked by supervisory authorities if this is called for in terms of protecting public health.

Together with national consumer protection authorities, the EU Commission has analysed the websites of companies for ecological window-dressing (referred to as “greenwashing”). In 42 per cent of the cases examined, the environmental claims were exaggerated, false or misleading. The websites of companies from various industries such as clothing or household appliances were examined. Distributors should be very careful with the claims and advertising of their products.

On 22 February 2021, we reported on the protection given by reused, disposable FFP2 masks against Sars-Cov-2 pathogens. Due to high popular demand, we wish to make the source for this available to you.

FFP2 half masks are classified as “Personal Protective Equipment” according to EU product legislation EN 149. Their purpose is to provide protection against solid particles of a specified size. As these masks are also effective against aerosols that can be carriers of the Sars-Cov-2 pathogen, FFP2 masks are also used here. Unlike solid particles, however, aerosols evaporate over time, which means that multiple use of the FFP2 mask is possible. Multiple use and the correct handling of FFP2 masks that have been used several times have currently been confirmed and described by the University of Münster. Distributors of FFP2 masks may refer to this and advertise their masks as reusable for protection against Sars-Cov-2 pathogens.