Dangerous items or services that have already been sold

Sålt farlig vara eller tjänst - English

If you have become aware that a product that you sell or have sold is dangerous to consumers, you are obliged to withdraw it from the market. This is a so-called “recall”.

When implementing a recall, the need to prevent injuries must be taken into account. The greater the risk involved in the item, the more extensive the recall. In the event of a recall, the manufacturer must do one of the following things:

Repair the item; so-called “corrective action”.
Take back the item and deliver another defect-free item of the same or equivalent kind, so-called “replacement”.
If the sold item is deemed to pose a serious danger, it must be taken back from consumers, so-called “return”.
In the event of a return, you must offer a replacement equal to the cost to the consumer of purchasing a new item of the same or equivalent kind. If reasons to do so exist, you can make a deduction to the compensation corresponding to the use that the consumer has derived from the item.

Inform the consumers

Inform the consumers by implementing a recall. You are responsible for ensuring that the recall is as thorough as possible and that the dangerous goods disappear from the market.

Inform consumers that the item is not safe, and explain why it is not safe.

Design the recall so that it is easy for the consumer to understand what needs to be done in order to make the item safe. E.g. returning the item for repair, collecting a repair kit or returning the item and getting the money back. 
Ensure that the recall applies for a reasonable period of time and that the recall does not entail material cost or inconvenience for the consumer. 
Publish the recall in, e.g. daily or trade press, on your company’s website, or on a notice in the shop, and preferably also on the website of the market surveillance authority.

Examples of what a recall advertisement might look like

There are also clarifying guidelines about how companies should implement a recall, developed with the support of the European Commission. There is a good summary on page 44.

Recall Guidelines

You must inform the market surveillance authority

Companies are obliged to cooperate with each other and with market surveillance authorities on matters concerning the safety of products. Part of this obligation is to inform the relevant market surveillance authority about dangerous goods and services on the market.

Dangerous items sold in Sweden
Download and fill out the form for dangerous items

Dangerous items sold in several EU or EFTA countries

To make matters easier for you as a company, the European Commission has a system called the Product Safety Business Alert Gateway, which replaces the previous GPSD Business Application System. There you can make a notification about which measures your company is taking in relation to the sale of a dangerous item.

When you send the notification, the Member States you have clicked on will receive the information. This means that you do not have to find out for yourself which supervisory authority should have the information.

In order to create a notification, you must have an EU login. You can easily create this when you click the GET STARTED box in the programme. If you want would like information about the system, please refer to the manual in English. If you are inside the system, you can find the manual by clicking on the white ring with a blue “i” (information) at the top right of the blue bar on the first page.

Please note that a notification does not always have to lead to a so-called RAPEX alert. RAPEX is the EU’s warningsystem for dangerous products. It is the supervisory authority that assesses whether a RAPEX alert should be made. To subscribe to RAPEX’s weekly report, contact rapex@konsumentverket.se 

Click here to learn more about RAPEX and safe products (available in Swedish)

Safety responsibilities for services

Do you sell services? As a service provider, it is your responsibility to minimise the risk of personal injury and ensure that the service has a high level of protection.
Learn more about your responsibilities as a service provider

Proofread 25 September 2023

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