The new rules should protect European consumers from unsafe products coming from China

Children’s toys with small parts, smoke detectors that ignore smoke and makeup with banned ingredients: Those who have purchased products from countries outside of Europe in recent years have not been protected by European product safety regulations. As of December 13, 2024, this is different, Reports of the Ministry of Economic Affairs Friday. Then a new European regulation comes into effect, which should promote fair competition in addition to product safety.

under the new rules drop shippers It is no longer just a matter of reselling products from China to Dutch consumers at a profit. From now on, every product purchased must have a manufacturer in Europe or a European subsidiary that consumers and regulators can contact. “It’s really not enough to have a mailbox or register with the Chamber of Commerce,” minister spokesman Micky Adriansens (Economics and Climate, VVD) said on Friday. Norwegian Refugee Council.

The Dutch buy many things on the Internet. At the beginning of this year, for the first time in the Netherlands, there were more online stores than stone stores, The Central Bureau of Statistics reported. According to the consumer association 30 percent of online purchases come from countries outside the European Union: from China, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Unfair competition

The online shopping craze has been causing problems for years, which had no answer to the old product safety principle (from 2001). Outside the European Union, different rules apply to products than those within it. Anyone who ordered a cheap power bank from China from an online store that started smoking after the third use cannot hold anyone responsible. Dutch companies saw unfair competition from foreign firms that did not have to comply with European safety rules.

Enforcement will be in the hands of the Dutch Consumer Product and Food Safety Authority (NVWA). If they identify a product as unsafe, the platforms must remove it — as well as all similar products. NVWA responds to reports on the one hand, and proactively looks for stores that break the rules on the other, says spokesperson Adriaansens. “We really have no illusions that this will keep all unsafe products out of Europe, but it’s better than doing nothing anyway.”