EU 10% Clothing Violates Safety Standards

　 Recently, the European Commission released the results of the market surveillance action of the European Union on the assessment of children's neck strangulation caused by rope clothing. The action is aimed at reducing the number of unsafe children's clothing in the EU market, whether it is produced or imported in Europe, and finds that 1/10 of clothing is in violation of EU safety standards. 

A total of thousands of such garments were inspected by the market surveillance bodies of the 11 member countries between August 2008 and February 2010. The action was carried out by PROSAFE (EU supervisory network). PROSAFE examined 4642 times, and paid special attention to retailers, but also tested wholesalers, manufacturers and importers. Customs authorities tested 61 consignments on the European Union border. Of the approximately 16300 garments tested, 2188 do not meet the safety requirements of the European standard EN14682. It is alarming that 69% of the substandard products are clothing for children under 7 years of age, which is considered to be the most vulnerable age group.

After the release of the results, RAPEX (RAPEX is the EU's rapid warning system for all dangerous goods except food, medicine and medical equipment) received many notices and took corrective measures. The European Union concerned began to be alert to this safety problem after receiving rope entanglement on bicycles, doors, doors and entertainment equipment on children's clothing, resulting in serious injury or fatal incidents.

National injury statistics show that such incidents are divided into two groups by age:

(I) a serious accident is caused by hooking up the entertainment equipment (such as slides) for young children.

(II) slightly larger children, hooks on the waist of the garment and lower frilled strings hook the moving vehicles (such as bus doors, sled, bicycles), resulting in serious injury or death due to vehicle drag or pull.

Although member states do not systematically collect hard data on events, incidents and injuries associated with rope pulling in children's clothing can occur periodically and sometimes die. In 2002, 150 children aged 0 to 14 were seen in the emergency department of 7 member countries. The European Commission points out that these extreme events and injuries should not be only concerned.