Product Compliance in Europe: A Critical Examination

                                                                                                                                                                                       

During 2022, the TIC Council conducted a market study to determine the extent that electrical consumer products sold on the European market are in compliance with the basic safety requirements of the European product legislation. and at the same time get insights into the impact that different approaches to conformity assessment can have on the safety of consumer products.

The 2022 study aimed to assess whether consumer electrical products subject to an EU Declaration of Conformity without third party conformity assessment and sold on the EU Single Market, comply with mandatory legal requirements to safeguard European consumers.
Samples of products available to any consumer were randomly selected from the shelves of retailers in seven EU countries and contained a mixture of well-known brands and no-name brands. All selected products were subject to EU Declaration of Conformity and had CE-marking but lacked indication that they had been subject to a third-party conformity assessment. This means that the manufacturer or supplier of this product has carried out the required conformity assessment itself and confirmed that the product complies with the applicable requirements.
A series of safety tests according to harmonized European standards were then carried out in a laboratory independent from any TIC Council affiliation. The safety tests were based on normative safety clauses, including heating, abnormal operation, double insulation, and warnings. (Clauses in the harmonized standards which did not focus on safety issues were excluded). 
Of the 120 products tested, 85 were found not to meet the standards, and 28 were determined to have dangerous non-conformities that can cause hospitalization, permanent physical harm to the consumer, loss of property or fires.

TIC Council did also earlier, between 2012 and 2017, carry out similar market studies, including tests of electrical consumer goods that do not bear any third-party certification mark/s. The 2022 market study aimed to verify whether the consumer safety situation in the EU had improved after 10 years. The reported results, however, showed the opposite, i.e. that the situation has further deteriorated. Between the two studies, there is a 15 % increase in the total number of found non-conformities and a 6 % increase in the non-conformities deemed as dangerous.

The full report may be seen at this link, and the main points may be seen here.

(The article is based on the info provided by TIC Council and edited by T.Sollie)