Consumer Product Safety OECD

1
Consumer Product Safety _at_ OECD

• Peter Avery
• OECD- Committee on Consumer Policy
• EMARS II Launch Event
• Vienna
• 17 March 2009

2
Presentation

• OECD background
• Roundtable on consumer product safety -- 23
  October 2008
• Proposed work for 2009-2010
• Co-operation and collaboration with stakeholders

3
OECD background

• OECD 30 member countries
• Europe 19 EU members, Iceland, Norway,
  Switzerland, Turkey
• North America Canada, Mexico, US
• Asia-Pacific Australia, Japan, Korea, New
  Zealand
• Accession countries
• Chile, Estonia, Israel, Russia, Slovenia
• Enhanced engagement
• Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Africa
• Scope of OECD work
• 200 committees, working groups and expert groups
  covering a broad range of economic, social issues
• Committee on Consumer Policy (CCP) Member
  countries, consumer organisations India as an
  observer
• CCP carries our research, provides discussion
  forum for policymakers
• Resumed work on product safety in 2008

4
Roundtable on consumer product safety -- 23
October 2008

• Scope of work
• Non-food products
• Research for Roundtable
• Analytic report examines (i) domestic consumer
  product safety regimes, (ii) international and
  regional frameworks, (iii) issues related to
  cross-border problems
• Compilation of information on consumer product
  safety regimes based on survey Australia,
  Belgium, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Estonia, EU,
  Finland, France, Israel, Japan, Mexico, NZ,
  Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic,
  Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United States
• Event
• 100 participants government officials from OECD
  countries, accession countries (except Russia),
  Brazil, China, Egypt
• International Consumer Product Safety Caucus, ISO
  COPOLCO, International Consumer Product Health
  and Safety Organization, EMARS, toy industry and
  other business interests, consumer organisations
• Presentations available on the Internet _at_
  http//www.oecd.org/sti/consumer-policy

5
Roundtable on consumer product safety -- 23
October 2008

• Conclusions (Summary report being finalised)
• Greater stakeholder co-ordination and
  co-operation are required to ensure that
  international product safety frameworks protect
  consumers
• Governments can take a more proactive approach to
  product safety failure
• Governments can make greater efforts to harmonise
  product safety standards internationally
• Governments could work to develop a rapid
  international information exchange system
• Consumer and business organisations can also play
  a role in ensuring consumer product safety

6
Proposed work for 2009-2010

• Analytic review (by 2009III)
• Examination of gaps and duplication in
  international co-operation, information sharing,
  standards and strategies for addressing issues
  (with ICPSC, ICPHSO and COPOLCO)
• Examination of existing bilateral and
  multilateral arrangements for information-sharing
  to see how they could be applied more broadly
  (PROSAFE, RAPEX, APEC, EMARS)
• Workshop (in 2010I)
• Focus on increased information-sharing
• Co-ordination with ICPHSO
• Policy guidelines (by 2010IV)
• Development of set of principles and mechanisms
  for improved information-sharing

7
Co-operation and collaboration with
stakeholders

• EMARS meeting in July 2008 (Paris)
• OECD CCP meeting in October 2008 (Paris)
• OECD Roundtable in October 2008 (Paris)
• ICPSC/ICPHSO meeting in November 2008 (Brussels)
• EMARS meeting in March 2009 (Vienna)
• Upcoming OECD CCP meeting in March/April 2009
  (Paris)
• OECD conference on corporate responsibility in
  June 2009 (Paris)

8
Thank you for your attentionPeter
AveryPrincipal Administrator, Consumer
PolicyEmail Peter.Avery_at_oecd.orgWebsite
http//www.oecd.org/sti/consumer-policy