The marked increase of voluntary notifications, which now account for over 21% of the total, points to a change in business priorities in the region, suggests Stericycle. There was a marginal decline in the total number of notifications issued by the European agencies for consumer goods and food regulation, which demonstrates further the significance of the rise in voluntary actions.
Recall expert Farzad Henareh, european MD at Stericycle commented: “Companies are taking control of their product recall processes by issuing safety notifications voluntarily. They’re not waiting for authorities to decide whether to enforce measures, they are independently complying with regulations, actively removing dangerous products from the market and ultimately looking to protect their customers and the relationship that they enjoy with them.”
There were a total of 5,569 total product safety notifications issued via the primary European agencies in 2013. Hungary, Germany and Spain issued the most notifications. Hungary issued every one of its 278 under compulsory circumstances; Germany issued 71% of its 259 voluntarily. This shows the variations that exist across Europe, but the overall upward trend indicates that countries like Hungary will gradually become the minority.
Farzad Henareh continued: “There are many more benefits to taking control and proactively dealing with issues. By nipping the problem in the bud, companies are very likely to save costs and at the same time it shows customers that you have genuine concern for their safety and enjoyment of your products. Implementing a well managed customer centric recall process lets companies increase brand empathy and as a result achieve greater levels of customer retention, loyalty and advocacy.”
The Stericycle European Index gathers and tracks cumulative data from the two primary European agencies that track recalls and notifications in the region. This data is segmented into multiple definitions of notifications and alerts, but collated into a central figure for the purpose of analysis.
Source: Stericycle
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