In order to ensure the safety of products intended for children, the DGCCRF has just made public its survey results concerning high chairs, table seats and other baby holds.
Once again this year, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) is issuing its investigation report related to the safety of childcare articles. Carried out with a view to preventing the risk of accidents, the checks were carried out during 2019. The items concerned are: high chairs, table seats, baby chocks and baby walkers.
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Out of the 261 professionals inspected, physical stores and websites combined, the anomaly rate noted was 14%. 41 targeted products were collected for laboratory analysis and 12 of them were withdrawn from the market because they were dangerous. "These investigations revealed that, in general, manufacturers of controlled products have a fairly good command of regulatory requirements and anticipate their changes", indicates the DGCCRF in a press release.
A lack of consumer information
Buying an item with incomprehensible or no instructions is not very pleasant. Beyond the practical aspect, it can even represent a danger. According to the DGCCRF, "Consumers must in fact have instructions and warnings for proper use of the product and, prior to purchase, information on the weight or age of use of the product. During checks, investigators observed that a number of items were offered for sale without packaging, already assembled or with damaged packaging, which made the information contained therein inaccessible to consumers. " In other cases, some notices were not even updated!
Baby dies due to faulty bed, manufacturer condemned
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For baby wedges, the DGCCRF indicates that investigators have sometimes had difficulty obtaining technical documentation, in particular certificates of compliance with safety requirements. “Of the 41 products taken to be tested in the DGCCRF laboratories, 44% were declared non-compliant, mainly table seats and high chairs, for lack or absence of markings (for example, absence of the address manufacturer or importer …) or warnings such as the prohibition against leaving the child unattended, or the presence of poorly translated statements ", she explains.
Small positive note, unlike baby diapers where the DGCCRF had identified chemical substances in small quantities such as dioxins and furans, PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) and formaldehyde, the childcare items collected do not show any threshold being exceeded. regulatory. No mercury, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead … Something to reassure us a little.