Notifying Tukes of dangerous or non-compliant products
If the company has manufactured, imported, sold, forwarded or otherwise distributed a product that poses risks, the company must submit a notification to Tukes on the product that poses the risk and cooperate with Tukes. If the product has been sold also in other EU or EEA states, the Business Gateway can also be used to submit a notification on the product that poses risks. The notification on a dangerous product is primarily submitted by the manufacturer located in the EU area, or if the manufacturer is not located in the EU area, a representative of the manufacturer or the importer. The party submitting the notification must assess the risk level posed by the product.
The company can submit the notification with the form (doc, 138 kb) available on the Tukes website. Email the form to the address kirjaamo (at) tukes.fi.
It is essential that the notification is submitted immediately upon learning of the risk posed by the product. The notification must be submitted even if not all of the information is available. The information can be supplemented later.
Tukes must be notified if a product causes any of the following:
- Damage to health, including damage that is not found immediately
- Accident, such as a fire or an accident requiring hospitalisation
- Dangerous situation, including situations with impacts that are not immediately evident
- Serious close calls that could have resulted in an accident
Even a minor risk factor in the product may require a notification in the following situations:
- The product is widely distributed or a large number of products have been sold.
- The danger is not obvious, meaning that it is difficult for consumers to detect it.
- The product is intended for children, young people or the elderly.
The media is often interested in finding out if the company has acted in accordance with the law and notified the supervisory authority. In addition to breaking the law, failing to submit the notification may bring its own punishment in the form of a bad public image.
The company must provide the supervisory authority with the information necessary for supervision within the deadline set by the authority. A person may be sentenced to a fine or to imprisonment for at most six months for providing false documents to a public authority (Criminal Code 39/1889, chapter 16, section 8).
The company is responsible for product safety. Submitting a notification does not remove the company’s liability.
If the product has been sold in other EU or EEA states, the Business Gateway can also be used to submit a notification on the product that poses risks.