Denmark launches online protection against 'dangerous British products'
The Danish Safety Technology Authority (Sikkerhedsstyrelsen) has announced automated technology to guard against products from UK-based webshops which do not live up to EU safety standards.
The authority announced on Thursday a new project in partnership with e-mærket, the Danish certification scheme for online stores, which it says will “ensure Danish consumers cannot order dangerous products from British webshops”.
“After Brexit there is no guarantee that goods produced in or imported via the United Kingdom live up to the EU’s product safety rules,” the Danish authority said in a press statement.
“The rules exist to protect Danish consumers from, for example, electronic products that give a shock or overheat and suddenly catch fire,” the statement continues.
According to a 2023 report by payment card operator Nets cited in the statement, some 23 percent of people in Denmark purchase goods from online stores based abroad, including outside the EU.
In 2022, UK-based webshops represented the largest proportion of Danes’ purchases from outside the EU, at 11 percent.
That justifies a more stringent approach to quality control of products purchased online in the UK, according to the Danish Safety Technology Authority.
The joint project involves developing e-mærket’s scanning software to identify online stores in the UK which offer delivery in Denmark.
This means the process of identifying potentially problematic British online stores becomes automated.
“With this new tool, developed by e-mærket, we can spend more time looking closely at individual cases, assess the products better and thereby improve consumer safety,” team leader of the Danish Safety Technology Authority’s product control department, Lene Nørskov Sørensen, said in the statement.
“This new technological tool will also make the Danish Safety Technology Authority capable of having a high volume of checks on [goods from] the United Kingdom,” she said.
The Danish Safety Technology Authority and e-mærket say they hope that the technology will eventually also be developed for webshops from other countries outside the EU.
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The authority announced on Thursday a new project in partnership with e-mærket, the Danish certification scheme for online stores, which it says will “ensure Danish consumers cannot order dangerous products from British webshops”.
“After Brexit there is no guarantee that goods produced in or imported via the United Kingdom live up to the EU’s product safety rules,” the Danish authority said in a press statement.
“The rules exist to protect Danish consumers from, for example, electronic products that give a shock or overheat and suddenly catch fire,” the statement continues.
According to a 2023 report by payment card operator Nets cited in the statement, some 23 percent of people in Denmark purchase goods from online stores based abroad, including outside the EU.
In 2022, UK-based webshops represented the largest proportion of Danes’ purchases from outside the EU, at 11 percent.
That justifies a more stringent approach to quality control of products purchased online in the UK, according to the Danish Safety Technology Authority.
The joint project involves developing e-mærket’s scanning software to identify online stores in the UK which offer delivery in Denmark.
This means the process of identifying potentially problematic British online stores becomes automated.
“With this new tool, developed by e-mærket, we can spend more time looking closely at individual cases, assess the products better and thereby improve consumer safety,” team leader of the Danish Safety Technology Authority’s product control department, Lene Nørskov Sørensen, said in the statement.
“This new technological tool will also make the Danish Safety Technology Authority capable of having a high volume of checks on [goods from] the United Kingdom,” she said.
The Danish Safety Technology Authority and e-mærket say they hope that the technology will eventually also be developed for webshops from other countries outside the EU.
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