The number of dangerous consumer products withdrawn from the EU market was 16 per cent higher in 2008 than in the previous year, a European Commission report released on April 20 2009 said.

The report, on the EU rapid alert system for non-food dangerous products, is known as "RAPEX".

The EC said that the increase from 1 605 notifications in 2007 to 1 866 last year showed that the capacity of the RAPEX system had "substantially increased again" in 2008, following a substantial investment of resources and training by the EC and member states.

"European businesses in the consumer product safety area are also taking their responsibilities more seriously and recall their unsafe products from the market more readily," the EC said.

Toys with childcare articles (such as bicycles, baby walkers, cots and soothers), electrical products and motor vehicles were the most frequently notified products in 2008.

The number of notifications on products of Chinese origin sent through RAPEX increased (from 52 per cent in 2007 to 59 per cent in 2008).

This must be seen as a consequence of the focus of market surveillance authorities on product categories known to be of higher risk, the EC said.

According to European Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kouneva: "This report sends a very clear message that there is no room for complacency when it comes to safety. The biggest challenge for 2009 is to make sure that product safety is not set aside during this period of economic crisis, that business continues to respect their duties toward consumers and that member states allocate sufficient resources to enforcement.

"Safety is not a luxury," Kouneva said.

"This report sets out clearly the significant challenges we face and sends a clear signal that there is no place for cost cutting or cutting corners when it comes to safety. On the contrary, in times of economic crisis when price becomes a very prominent factor in consumer spending, we need to step up our efforts and keep our vigilance especially high."

The EC said that the total number of notifications distributed through the RAPEX system had risen gradually since 2004, when the General Product Safety Directive was transposed into the national laws by EU member states.

"In this fifth year, the number of notifications has quadrupled from 468 (in 2004) to 1866 (in 2008)," the EC said.

All EU countries participated in the RAPEX system by detecting and notifying new dangerous products and ensuring appropriate follow-up actions to the information received.

Twelve countries further increased their activities in the system and notified more dangerous products than in 2007.

The countries making most notifications were Germany (205 notifications), Spain (163 notifications), Slovakia (140 notifications), Greece (132 notifications) and Hungary (129 notifications). Notifications sent by these countries represent 50 per cent of all notifications on products posing a serious risk sent via the system, the EC said.

Toys (498 notifications), electrical appliances (169 notifications) and motor vehicles (160 notifications) alone accounted for 53 per cent of all notifications on products posing a serious risk in 2008.