The European Commission’s latest Safety Gate report for 2025 shows a sharp rise in alerts about dangerous non-food products sold across Europe, alongside stronger enforcement actions to protect consumers.
Safety Gate is the EU’s rapid alert system that allows national authorities to quickly share information about unsafe products and remove them from the market.
Record number of alerts
In 2025, 4,671 alerts were reported through the system — the highest number since Safety Gate was launched in 2003. This represents a 13% increase compared with 2024 and more than double the number recorded in 2022.
Authorities also stepped up enforcement. In total, 5,794 follow-up actions were taken to remove or restrict dangerous products — 35% more than the year before.
These measures included withdrawing products from the market, stopping shipments at EU borders, ordering online marketplaces to remove listings, and recalling items already sold to consumers.
According to the European Commission, the increase reflects stronger cooperation between national authorities across the EU and the European Economic Area under the General Product Safety Regulation.
The safety of consumer products is a top priority for the Commission. The record number of alerts reported in 2025 through the Safety Gate system demonstrates that Europe’s product safety framework is becoming stronger, more effective, and – most importantly – essential. National authorities are detecting dangerous products more quickly and removing them faster. From identifying banned chemicals in cosmetics to unsafe toys or home appliances, the Commission and national authorities now have an increasingly comprehensive toolbox to ensure that all products sold in the EU meet the highest safety standards.
Michael McGrath, Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection
Cosmetics, toys and electronics among the most reported
The report shows that cosmetics accounted for 36% of all alerts, followed by toys (16%) and electrical appliances and equipment (11%).
The most common safety concern was the presence of dangerous chemicals, responsible for 53% of all notifications. Other risks included injuries (14%) and choking hazards (9%).
Almost eight in ten alerts concerning cosmetics were linked to the presence of BMCHA, a banned synthetic fragrance that may harm the reproductive system and cause skin irritation.
For the first time, authorities also reported nail polish containing TPO, a chemical banned in 2025 due to concerns about prenatal health risks and allergic reactions.
New tools to detect unsafe products online
EU regulators have also introduced new tools to monitor products sold online. One of them, the eSurveillance Webcrawler, automatically scans websites for products that have already been flagged in Safety Gate.
In 2025 it scanned more than 1.6 million websites and identified over 20,800 products that had already been listed as dangerous.
Consumers can also report safety concerns through the Consumer Safety Gateway, helping authorities identify risks more quickly.
Stronger safety rules
The EU has recently updated several product safety laws. The General Product Safety Regulation strengthens enforcement, improves recall procedures and requires companies to offer remedies to consumers when products are recalled.
A new Toy Safety Regulation also bans harmful chemicals in toys and gives national authorities stronger powers to detect and remove dangerous toys from the market.
What happens next
EU authorities are preparing a product safety “sweep” in 2026, a coordinated set of online checks across member states to identify products that do not comply with EU safety rules.
The European Commission also plans to update market surveillance rules through a new European Product Act, expected later this year, to ensure that only compliant and safe products enter the EU Single Market.
By the end of 2025, more than 1,200 online marketplaces had registered in the Safety Gate portal, as required under EU rules.
The Safety Gate system enables authorities across the EU and the European Economic Area to quickly share alerts about products that pose risks such as choking, strangulation, injuries or damage to hearing and sight — helping remove them from the market before they cause harm.
10.03.2026.
