Nordic Enforcement Project Reveals Alarming Non-Compliance Rates in E-commerce for Consumer Goods

The Nordic Enforcement Group has checked the compliance level for e-commerce of consumer goods. We focused on three types of business models: marketplaces, dropshipping stores and web shops. A total of 412 products were analysed for restricted substances. 152 (37 %) of the products were non-compliant. The dropshipping stores had the highest non-compliance rate (70 %). They seem however to be unaware of their responsibility for product safety. The results also confirm that products bought from outside the EU/EEA has a higher risk of non-compliance, compared to the products bought within the EU/EEA. The non-compliance rate for the non-EU/EEA companies was 66 %. The national authorities lack powers to demand correction from actors outside the EU. However, there are new rules governing the e-commerce actors coming into force, with the aim to contribute to safer products.