As a major global manufacturer and exporter of lighting products, China occupies an irreplaceable and important position in the EU lighting market. From January to October 2025, my country's total exports of lighting products to the EU reached US$8.3 billion, accounting for 20% of the country's total lighting product exports. The EU market remains the primary destination for Chinese lighting companies' overseas exports, supporting the stable development of the industry's export trade.
However, behind the stable export volume, the quality and safety risks faced by Chinese lighting products exported to the EU are becoming increasingly prominent, with a continuous increase in related warning signals. According to incomplete statistics, in the first three quarters of 2025, the EU issued 161 quality and safety notifications for Chinese-exported lighting products through the Rapid Alert System for Non-Food Products (RAPEX), a 31% increase compared to the same period in 2024. This number also rose to 11% of the total number of notifications for Chinese consumer goods exported to the EU. Based on this, this article will focus on analyzing the recall and notification situation of Chinese lighting products in the EU market, helping domestic enterprises accurately grasp the quality compliance "red lines" in the local market and avoid export risks.
I. Safety and Environmental Issues Account for Over 90% of the Total
From the core reasons for the notifications, safety hazards and environmental violations remain the main bottlenecks restricting the smooth entry of Chinese lighting products into the EU market, with the prominence of safety issues being particularly evident, becoming the primary focus of the notifications.
Safety issues accounted for as high as 80% of all notification cases, a significant increase of 10 percentage points compared to the same period in 2024. These problems mainly concentrate on core aspects such as unreasonable product structural design, wiring layout not conforming to EU compliance standards, substandard heat resistance and fire resistance performance, and lack of electric shock protection measures—all of which are key testing indicators directly related to consumer safety. For example, the mechanical strength of some exported lighting products failed to meet the required standards, making them prone to casing damage and exposed live parts during daily use, posing an electric shock hazard to consumers; other products had plug specifications that did not match EU standards, and prolonged plugging and unplugging could cause socket damage, leading to fire accidents. These types of violations have appeared repeatedly in notification cases, reflecting the weak compliance awareness of some companies in the production process. Although the percentage of notifications related to environmental issues decreased by 6 percentage points compared to the same period in 2024, currently standing at 17%, it remains a significant export risk that cannot be ignored. The core issues in these notifications focus on excessive heavy metal content in products, such as lead content in the solder used in some lighting products reaching as high as 82.2%, far exceeding the limits set by relevant EU standards. This not only pollutes the local ecological environment but may also endanger human health through various pathways, including the food chain. In addition, some exported lighting products have also been found to contain excessive levels of cadmium, short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs), and other harmful substances. SCCPs are bioaccumulative and carcinogenic, and are a type of hazardous substance subject to strict regulation in the EU market.
II. Eastern Europe Remains a High-Risk Notification Area, While Southern Europe Sees a Significant Increase in Notifications
In terms of the geographical distribution of notifications from EU member states, the first three quarters of 2025 show a new trend of "Eastern Europe still having a high proportion of notifications, while Southern Europe sees a surge in notifications." Eastern European countries such as Hungary continue to be the main countries issuing notifications regarding Chinese lighting products, accounting for 47% of the total notifications. Although this proportion is 20 percentage points lower than the same period in 2024, it still accounts for nearly half of the total notifications and remains a high-risk area requiring close attention. In the first three quarters of 2025, Hungary was the country with the most complaints against Chinese lighting products among all EU member states, accounting for approximately 20% of the total complaints against Chinese lighting products in the EU, a slight decrease of 4% compared to the same period last year. It is noteworthy that Slovakia has become an emerging country with the most significant increase in notifications, with the number of complaints increasing by a staggering 633% compared to the same period in 2024, accounting for 14% of the total complaints. It has become a new high-risk market for Chinese lighting product exports to the EU. The reason for the persistently high number of notifications in Eastern Europe is closely related to the characteristics of the local market demand: affected by the overall economic downturn in Europe, consumers in Eastern Europe are more price-sensitive to lighting products. Coupled with the approaching peak season for purchasing festive lights and other products at the end of the year, some low-priced, low-quality lighting products have flooded the local market, directly leading to a significant increase in the frequency of notifications and complaints. Of particular concern is the significant year-on-year increase in notifications regarding Chinese lighting products in both Southern and Northern Europe: the proportion of notifications from Southern Europe surged from 1% in the same period of 2024 to 19%, a year-on-year increase of 18 percentage points; Northern Europe followed closely behind, with a notification rate of 18%, with Sweden showing the most prominent increase, a year-on-year growth of over 300%, accounting for 16% of the total notifications. The main reason for the surge in notifications from Northern Europe is the continuous increase in local consumers' attention to the environmental attributes of products, and some Chinese lighting products exported to this region failed to meet the stricter local environmental compliance requirements, leading to a large number of notifications.
III. String lights remain the lighting product category with the highest number of notifications
In terms of specific lighting product categories, string lights remain the category with the highest number of notifications for Chinese lighting products in the EU market during the first three quarters of 2025. The number of notifications for string lights far exceeds that of other lighting products, making it a major risk category for Chinese lighting product exports to the EU. Relevant enterprises need to strengthen quality control and compliance testing for this category.
