Over the past decades, the volume of consumer product recalls has been increasing steadily worldwide, affecting millions of non-food products ranging from electronic devices, toys and childcare equipment to household appliances and automobiles.
In the year 2018 alone, over 3700 product recall notifications were submitted by 39 jurisdictions on the OECD Global Recalls portal. Yet consumers' reactions to recalls remain low in most jurisdictions, some achieving response rates as low as 3%. As a result, a large proportion of products that have been the subject of a recall remain in consumers' homes, exposing them to injuries or even risk of death.
Around 20 countries took part in the OECD's October 2019 Global Awareness Campaign on Product Recalls, which aimed to:
Video produced by Colombia's Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio also available in Spanish
Video produced by Colombia's Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio also available in Spanish
The OECD Global Recalls portal was created in 2012 to serve as a single window for sharing information about product recalls worldwide.
As of October 2019, the database contains more than 25,000 product recall notices from 47 jurisdictions, and integrates data from the EU’s rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products (Safety Gate) and the ASEAN regional recalls portal.
This figure is expected to rise as the OECD continues to work with other international organisations such as the Organisation of American States (OAS) to incorporate their recalls into the portal.