Also in 2013, IMQ and Agency of Customs and Monopolies worked together for safety. During the year, the IMQ laboratories have done over 200 inspections and verification tests on thousands of electrical products from abroad that were about to be placed in the Italian market. The checks have involved a representative sample of more than 145,300 electrical products. Only 11% complied with the safety regulations in force. The investigations carried out on the remaining 89% (corresponding to a total of about 129,000 pieces) have instead got a negative result because the products did not meet the requirements of safety and quality required by current European directives. For about 20% of these products, it was decided an immediate ban on the marketing, while for the remaining products it was decided to demand rigorous actions of conformation. Among the main categories of goods judged not comply by IMQ, there were: power supplies and chargers for electronic cigarettes, lighting appliances with both traditional sources and LED, fluorescent light bulbs with low consumption, halogen and LED lamps, small appliances (for example hair straighteners). The selection of products was based on a sophisticated risk analysis and it was done by several offices of the Agency of Customs and Monopolies. For the products that presented these parameters at the preliminary control of customs officials (eg. the absence of the CE marking, the poor quality of materials, etc.) it was required the IMQ’s action. The high percentage of non-compliance is therefore related to the samples thus selected.
