Child restraint systems (CRS) can reduce child injury by 71% to 82% when installed correctly. Furthermore, compared to not using a child restraint at all, a forward-facing CRS reduces the risk of serious injury by 60%, while a rearward-facing CRS reduces the risk by 90% .

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ANEC welcomes yesterday’s publication of the European Commission’s proposal for mandatory provisions to ensure the accessibility of public sector web-sites by 20151. Many consumers with disabilities, and older consumers, are still not able to reap the benefits of the digital society, including e-government services, due to inaccessible web-sites.

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In the weeks before Christmas, many parents will have the annual pleasure of choosing the right toys for their children. Although the new Toy Safety Directive, which entered into force in July 2011, certainly brought some improvements to toy safety in Europe, ANEC calls upon policy makers to take the health of children more seriously by significantly strengthening the chemical requirements for toys.

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Environmental Footprint – doubtful value for consumers while opening the door to market distortion for industry

Orgalime, the European engineering industries association, and ANEC, the European consumer voice in standardisation, are deeply concerned that the Commission’s Directorate-General for Environment is in the process of developing a harmonised methodology for the calculation of the environmental footprint of products, services and organisations with a view to assess, display and benchmark their environmental performance based on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach.  This could mean that the proposed methodology and its use in policy making may increase complexity and costs while providing questionable benefit, if any, for industry or the consumer.

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ANEC welcomes the adoption of a new regulation on child-restraint systems (the “I-size Regulation”) by UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) World Forum for the Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP 29).

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To mark International Product Safety Week which starts today, as well as World Standards Day 2012, ANEC urges the European Institutions and Member States to create an EU-wide system of home and leisure accident statistics, aided and funded by the Commission. We further urge Member States to be required to contribute to the establishment of the database and its regular updating.

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Ahead of the expected release today of the second regulatory review by the European Commission of the safety of nanomaterials, ANEC repeats its call for a mandatory reporting scheme for nanomaterials used in consumer products. 

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ANEC wants to add a discordant note to the fanfares that have greeted the release of the Apple iPhone 5 which goes on sale tomorrow in some European countries. In the introduction of Lightning, its new proprietary connector, Apple has in a flash rendered obsolete many millions of accessories that are compatible with the 30-pin dock connector first introduced with the iPod in 2003. Although Apple promises “a bunch of accessories to help you deal with that”, these fixes will not be made available to consumers free-of-charge.

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ANEC, ECOS and ETUI welcome today’s adoption of the Standardisation Regulation by the European Parliament. We applaud the commitment of the Parliament to support the continued financing of the public interest in the private European Standardisation System, and to set expectations for the strengthening of the voice of societal interests in the standards development process. We urge the Council to concur.

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ANEC, the European consumer voice in standardisation, deeply regrets to see a further bureaucratic delay in the adoption of the new regulation on child restraint systems (known as the “I-size Regulation”).

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Today, ANEC publishes a detailed critique of Life Cycle  Assessment (LCA) as a measure of environmental impacts: "Environmental assessment goes astray. A critique of environmental footprint methodology and its ingredients", and  calls on  the  European  Commission to re-think its approach to environmental assessment.

Consumers need a clear and unambiguous indication of a product with superior environmental performance. Present life-cycle indicators are difficult to assess even for experts, let alone the consumer. Moreover, such indicators are not related to consumer needs and hence are of little relevance. “Flooding consumers with such information may be a form of advertising, as in the case of questionable carbon footprint labels, but it has little to do with the provision of sound environmental advice that can assist consumers in their purchases”, said ANEC Secretary-General, Stephen Russell.

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“Consumers are confused by the number of environmental claims that can be found on the EU market, as well as about their reliability and clarity”, said ANEC Secretary-General, Stephen Russell, on the occasion of the European Consumer Summit 2012. The Summit includes consideration of misleading environmental claims. He added, “However, there exist several claims that are trusted due to their simplicity, clarity, credibility and usability. In particular, instruments such as the Ecolabel and Energy Label should be developed further”.

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“ANEC welcomes the proposal of the European Commission, unveiled today, to strengthen consumer confidence and put consumers at the centre of the Single Market”, said ANEC Secretary-General, Stephen Russell “However, we should not forget that, in reality, the needs and expectations of consumers are not limited to the repartition of competences among Commission portfolios.

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The Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee of the European Parliament (IMCO) today adopted a Legislative Report on the revision of the present regulatory framework for European Standardisation.
ANEC welcomes the adoption of the Report and its measures to strengthen the voice of consumers in the European Standardisation System.

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To mark International Consumers Day, ANEC calls for European safety legislation to provide consumers with a system of protection they can trust. This entails ensuring the safety of products along the whole production chain, from the assessment of risks to which all categories of consumers are exposed, to effective checks on products before they are sold to consumers.

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“ANEC welcomes the proposal of the European Commission, unveiled today, to strengthen the personal data protection of all consumers, including children”, said ANEC Secretary-General, Stephen Russell.

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