Notification of unsafe consumer products

Published by:

Netherlands Enterprise Agency, RVO

Checked 18 Mar 2021

1 min read

Nederlandse versie

Locating unsafe products

All businesses in the entire chain play a part in locating and reporting (in Dutch) unsafe consumer products.

As a producer you must assess the risk of your product, examine it and adjust it if necessary.
As a distributor you must gather, supply and pass on information on the product.
As a retailer you must supply information on unsafe products immediately to your suppliers.

Reporting an unsafe product

Have you discovered an unsafe product? You must report this to the NVWA. You can also submit your notification through the European Product Safety Business Alert Gateway. You may have another company in the chain notify the unsafe product. Your customers can also report unsafe products.

Whoever discovered the problem remains responsible for the notification.

You must report:

the risks of the unsafe product
what you have done or will do to eliminate the risk(s)

You must also notify your suppliers.

After the notification

After your report the NVWA will assess:

if you complied with the rules
what the risks to consumers health and safety are
which measures you should take (all businesses in the chain should cooperate)

Safety warning

Is the health and safety risk high? Then you must recall the product and publish a safety warning on your website and social media channels (in Dutch). You must also supply the safety warning to the NVWA. The NVWA publishes these warnings on their website (in Dutch). Safety warnings are also published on the European Safety Gateway.

European notification

In some cases, the NVWA will make a RAPEX notification (Rapid Exchange of Information) to the European Commission. For instance, if the (non-food) consumer product is sold in several countries or if the product is found to be dangerous.