Non-food products: Increasing warnings from the EU

In its “Safety Gate Report 2025“ the EU Commission reports 4,671 warnings from the rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products. This represents an increase of 13 percent compared to 2024. The so-called Safety Gate is the European rapid alert system through which authorities report dangerous non-food products and coordinate measures to protect consumers. Never before in the history of the system have so many warnings been issued. A total of 5,794 follow-up measures were reported in response to the warnings, including the removal of online offers, market withdrawals and recalls.

“The record number of warnings is alarming, because behind every warning is a product that does not belong in the hands of consumers,” says Johannes Kröhnert, head of the Brussels office of the TÜV Association. “What is even more alarming is that Safety Gate only shows cases discovered by the authorities. The number of unreported cases of potentially dangerous, non-EU-compliant goods is many times higher.”

The most frequent warnings concerned cosmetics (36 percent). At 16 percent, toys were the second most common product group among the warnings, followed by electrical appliances and equipment (11 percent). The most common trigger is health risks from hazardous chemicals (53 percent), followed by injury risks (14 percent) and suffocation hazards (9 percent).

A growing problem: many dangerous products are sold via international online platforms, according to a statement from TÜV. It is precisely there that suppliers can more easily circumvent European safety requirements and regulatory controls. In addition, consumers cannot tell at first glance on the screen whether a toy is safe.