Safety of products sold online
More and more consumers shop online. The proportion of sales online has been growing compared to the total of sales. Online shopping is often convenient for consumers but it also poses specific challenges for product safety. For this reason, on the 1st August 2017 the Commission issued a Notice on the market surveillance of products sold online to help public authorities with their work.
In addition, the Commission also facilitates a voluntary cooperation mechanism with online marketplaces that demonstrated their interest in the topic by signing the Product Safety Pledge. This pledge encourages participating online platforms to go beyond the legal requirements in the interest of EU consumers.
Product Safety Pledge +
Commissioner Reynders announced the deepened and extended commitment framework in the field of product safety during the 2023 Consumer Summit on 28 March 2023. Signatory online marketplaces reconfirmed their dedication to take measures that go beyond the legal requirements by signing the revised version of the original Product Safety Pledge, the Product Safety Pledge +.
Facilitated by the European Commission, the Product Safety Pledge+ consists of 20 areas where signatory online platforms took commitments regarding products sold online on their interfaces. These include for example a strengthened notice and takedown mechanism, proactive monitoring of recall sites such as the EU Safety Gate and additional commitments linked to recalls, transparency or trader education. The Product Safety Pledge+ framework also consists of a modernised reporting mechanism. Signatories will start applying the new commitment framework as of the 1st of December 2023.
From 30 November 2023 the Product Safety Pledge+ is integrated into the New Consumer Protection Pledge
In the document section below you can consult the latest monitoring reports. The first monitoring report of the Product Safety Pledge + will cover the period from December 2023 to May 2024.
Signatories (as of 28 March 2023):
Companies interested to join the Product Safety Pledge + mechanism can contact the European Commission by writing to:
JUST-PSP-NOTIFICATION
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (JUST-PSP-NOTIFICATION[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)
Original Product Safety Pledge
The EU Product Safety Pledge, signed in 2018 and the first of its kind at international level, was aimed at encouraging signatory online marketplaces in the last five years to go beyond their legal obligations in order to better protect consumers’ safety. This voluntary cooperation scheme, which complements the horizontal EU legal requirements, is an important element of the EU consumer protection toolbox.
This mechanism, facilitated by the European Commission, already proved it can improve the protection of consumers from dangerous products sold by third party sellers on online marketplaces. This is also confirmed by the raising interest in this important initiative: the number of the signatories increased from the initial four to now eleven online marketplaces, including both large international players and strong European platforms, and provides a wide geographical coverage of the EU market.
The Pledge has served as an inspiration for authorities of other jurisdictions (such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Korea Fair Trade Commission and Korea’s Consumer Agency, and Health Canada). The OECD Working Party on Consumer Product Safety has also adopted a communiqué and a policy guidance document on consumer product safety pledges, encouraging the development of further such pledges at domestic and regional levels.
In conclusion, the Product Safety Pledge has shown its relevance both in increasing the safety of products sold online and in offering a testing ground for innovative policy initiatives going further than existing legal obligations.
Documents
Find all previous progress Reports on the implementation of the Product Safety Pledge