RAPEX SYSTEM IN THE EU  Dirk H. Meijer  Chief public health officer non food  Inspectorate for Health Protection and Veterinary Public Health  Netherlands Food and Product Safety Authority  Chairman of PROSAFE

CONTENTS  Introduction  Inspectorate for Health Protection and Veterinary Public Health  International Networks  Prosafe  ICPHSO RAPEX  What is RAPEX en how does it work  Risk-assessment procedures  Information systems  Relation with other notification systems  Conclusions

INTRODUCTION  Inspectorate for Health Protection and Veterinary Public Health  Enforcement body in the Netherlands for Food, Non-Food and Veterinary Affairs.  About 900 people  Two main tasks  Enforcement  Research and Reporting  International networks on product safety  PROSAFE ( (under revision)  Product Safety Forum Europe  ICPHSO (  International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organisation

THE RAPEX SYSTEM (1)  Based on the General Product Safety Directive (GPSD) 2001/95/EC  Articles 7 and 8  7 notification without urgent measures  8 notification with urgent measures  At this moment wide variation of notifications  (0 – 22 per country per year)  Many notifications on products from the far East and of unknown origin

THE RAPEX SYSTEM (2)  At this moment there is no system for assessment of risks  System is being set up as this moment by the EC  Exchange of information is very important  The ICSMS-system is being built at this moment   Next to the RAPEX system there are notification systems related to the directives on the new and global approach (LVD, Machinery, etc.)

CONCLUSIONS  Due to several uncertainies the RAPEX system is not yet used as effectively as could be  Effective use needs clear decission making tools to judge risks  A well defined information network is needed  A well functioning informal network (e.g. ex Art. 10 GPSD, or PROAFE/ICPHSO) is needed.  Thus.....

STATEMENTS  1. Since consumer (non-food) products are being traded globally, product safety needs global market surveillance, at least global coordination of surveillance.  2. Global coordinated market surveillance will only be succesfull when information between enforcement authorities is shared, which will need a well functioning information exchange system and a informal network (like ICPHSO and PROSAFE) in which people of the organisations can meet en discuss with each other.