§7.6.4 Rapid Alert System for non-food products presenting a risk (RAPEX)

The Rapid Alert System used for non-food products allows 30 participating countries (all EEA countries) and the European Commission to exchange information on products presenting a risk to health and safety or other protected interests and on the measures taken by these countries to do away with that risk. Article 12 of the GPSD provides a legal basis for a general and horizontal system for the rapid exchange of information on serious risks arising from the use of products (RAPEX). The Rapid Alert System covers consumer and professional products (309). It is applicable to non-harmonised products and products covered by the Union harmonisation legislation alike (310). The Rapid Alert System works according to the detailed procedures laid down in Annex II to the GPSD and in the Rapid Alert System guidelines (311). The scope of the Rapid Alert System includes risks other than those affecting health and safety (i.e. risks for the environment and in the work place, security risks) and also products intended for professional (as opposed to consumer) use. Member States should ensure that corrective measures are adopted towards dangerous products, such as their withdrawal or, where there is no other effective means available to eliminate the risk, their recall, or that their being made available on their market is prohibited, and that the Commission is informed without delay of the corrective measures, both voluntary (taken by economic operators) and compulsory (ordered by authorities), through the Rapid Alert System under Article 20 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020. The Rapid Alert System procedure is as follows: — When a product (e.g. a toy, a childcare article or a household appliance) is found, for instance, to be dangerous, the competent national market surveillance authority takes appropriate action to eliminate the risk. It can withdraw the product from the market, recall it from consumers or issue warnings. Economic operators can take such measures also voluntarily which has to be reported by the competent authorities as well. The National Contact Point then notifies the European Commission (through the IT application of the system) about the product, the risks it poses and the measures taken by the authority or the economic operator to prevent risks and accidents. — The Commission checks that the notification meets the criteria laid down in the Rapid Alert System guidelines and, if so, it disseminates the notification received to the National Contact Points of all other EU and EEA countries. It publishes weekly overviews that include a summary of the measures taken against products posing a risk on the Commission’s Rapid Alert System website (312). — The National Contact Points in each EU and EEA country coordinate the work of the market surveillance authorities at national level that must ensure swift follow up on newly notified measures and implement measures to mitigate the identified risks such as requiring that the product is withdrawn from the market, by recalling it from consumers or by issuing warnings. The safeguard clause procedures under the Union harmonisation legislation apply in addition to the Rapid Alert System. Accordingly, the Rapid Alert System does not necessarily have to come into play before the safeguard clause procedure is applied. However, the safeguard clause procedure has to be applied, in addition to the Rapid Alert System, when the Member State takes a decision to permanently prohibit or restrict the free movement of CE marked products on the basis of a danger or other serious risk presented by the product.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07