Online Product Safety

This report explores the scope and magnitude of selected product safety challenges faced by consumers when purchasing tangible goods via e-commerce. It provides an overview of the government and business initiatives that have been carried out to protect consumers from three categories of unsafe products that are available for sale online in a number of jurisdictions. Such products include those: i) which have been  banned or recalled ii) with inadequate labelling and safety warnings and iii) which do not meet voluntary and mandatory safety standards. The report is informed by the results of an OECD online product safety sweep carried out in April 2015, in which 25 jurisdictions participated and inspected a total of 1 709 selected products available for sale online.