According to statistics from the China National Textile and Apparel Council, in the first half of 2014, the European Commission’s Rapid Early Warning System for Non-Food Products (RAPEX) issued a total of 1,083 recall notifications around the world (including Hong Kong and Taiwan, the same below), a year-on-year increase of 36.06%. . Among them, there were 209 notifications on textiles and clothing, accounting for 19.3% of the total number of notifications. There were 670 notifications to China (Mainland China, excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan, the same below), a year-on-year increase of 41.95%, accounting for 61.87% of the total number of global notifications. During the same period, 118 notifications were issued against China’s textile and clothing products, a year-on-year increase of 8.26%, accounting for 17.6% of the total number of notifications to China and 56.45% of the global notifications of similar products.
It can be seen from the statistics that the European Union issued recall notifications to the world in the first half of 2014. There are three major characteristics: first, the number of global notifications continues to grow, and the growth rate is large, exceeding the highest number of notifications in 2010 (1,031 cases); Notifications to China have also shown a rapid growth trend, exceeding the growth rate of the world, and the number of notifications has increased year by year in the global proportion, rising from 55.6% in 2008 to the current 61.8%; thirdly, the growth rate of textile and clothing products in 2013 The growth rate of notifications was on the decline, but it began to show positive growth in the first half of this year, but the number did not exceed the highest number (181 cases) in the same period in 2010. This shows that the number of EU notifications to the world, especially to China, has increased rapidly, and technical barriers to China have increased.
Number of RAPEX notifications to China in the first half of the past seven years
Data compilation: China Textile Industry Federation statistics
Notifying country
Spain has the largest number of initiatives
In the first half of 2014, Spain became the country that issued the largest number of notifications to the world, issuing 154 notifications; followed by Germany with 136 cases, France with 104 cases, and Hungary with 100 cases. The number of notifications issued by the above countries all exceeded 100 cases. The 10 countries with the largest number of notifications in the world issued a total of 841 notifications, accounting for 77.65% of the total number of notifications.
In the first half of this year, Spain still issued the most notifications to China, with 110 cases (the number of notifications for the whole of last year was 172). Hungary, France, Czech Republic, and Cyprus ranked in the top 5 respectively. The 10 countries with the largest number of notifications to China issued a total of 551 notifications, accounting for 82.2% of the total number of notifications to China.
The top five countries that issued the most notifications to Chinese textile and apparel products in the first half of this year were Hungary with 37 cases, Cyprus with 21 cases, Germany with 15 cases, Bulgaria with 12 cases, and Spain with 10 cases. The 10 countries that issued the most notifications to China’s textile and clothing products issued a total of 112 notifications, accounting for 94.9% of all notifications to China.
Notified products
Toys continue to rank first
Compared with 2013, among all products notified by the RAPEX system in the first half of this year, toy products surpassed textiles and clothing to become the most notified products. In the first half of the year, the EU issued 316 toy notifications around the world, accounting for 29.2% of the total number of notifications. Textile and clothing products (involving adult and children’s clothing and footwear products, etc.) ranked second with 209 cases, accounting for 19.3% of the total. The sum of the notification numbers of the above two categories of products accounts for nearly half of the total number of notifications.
Electrical appliances (115 cases), motor vehicles (80 cases), cosmetics (57 cases), and lighting facilities (51 cases) ranked 36th. The 10 categories of products with the largest number of notifications had a total of 948 notifications, accounting for 87.5% of the total number of notifications.
Among textile and clothing products, the notified products are mainly children’s clothing. Among the textile and clothing notifications to China, 92 cases involved children’s clothing, accounting for 78.0% of the total notifications of China’s textile and clothing products.
RAPEX notified product distribution in the first half of the year
Notified country
China is still NO.1
There is no suspense that among all the countries notified by the RAPEX system in the first half of 2014, China still ranks first, and continues to maintain the characteristics of huge disparity compared with other countries. In the first half of 2014, China received a total of 670 notifications, accounting for 61.9% of the total number of notifications to various countries around the world. Following China is Germany with 44 cases. Turkey ranked second in the same period last year, but fell to fifth this year; Germany ranked third in the same period last year, and improved to second this year. Italy, the United States, and Türkiye ranked 35th. The top 10 countries and regions with the largest number of notifications received a total of 870 notifications, accounting for 80.33% of the total number of notifications.
Distribution of countries notified by RAPEX in the first half of the year
Reasons for reporting
Product safety is the most important
Since the beginning of this year, the EU RAPEX system has issued recall notifications for products involving dozens of relevant standards. Safety is the most common reason for complaints, including causing suffocation, flammability, damage to hearing, damage to vision, and drowning. , causing electric shock, etc. Another reason for being notified is because it does not meet environmental standards.
The main reasons why textile and clothing products were notified are similar to those in previous years. Most of them do not meet the European standard EN14682. �The length of drawstrings on children’s tops, hats and clothing is too long, posing a risk of suffocation and injury. Other reasons include clothing accessories that are easily detached or unsafe and may cause swallowing and choking injuries, and violations of REACH regulations due to excessive chemicals (azo dyes, DEHP phthalates, and toxic aromatic amines). . Among these notified products, except for some children’s clothing with excessive drawstring lengths, which were ordered to take corrective measures, all other products have been actively or passively withdrawn from the market, recalled products that have been sold, and products that have not yet entered the EU market. The import will be directly refused by the customs.
In addition, the same type of products are notified in different EU member states for different reasons. For example, for the same fireworks products, some countries have notified them because they pose a risk of burns, and some countries have notified them because they can cause damage to vision and hearing. Another example is the same children’s clothing. Some countries have issued notifications because the accessories can cause suffocation injuries, and some countries have issued notifications because the printing and dyeing aspects do not meet relevant chemical standards.
(Statistical Center of China Textile and Apparel Industry Federation)
