My Eye-Opening Experience on World Consumer Rights Day

Exploring the importance of market surveillance and the role it plays in protecting consumer rights

Rui Alves
ILLUMINATION

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Photo by Rawpixel on Freepik

Today is World Consumer Rights Day, and as someone who has worked on EU-funded market surveillance projects in the past, I can tell you this is no easy feat.

During my time working on EU-funded market surveillance projects in Brussels, I learned a lot about this topic

As part of my role, I collaborated with European market surveillance authorities (MSAs) to ensure products and services met safety standards.

The projects’ technical experts worked with MSAs from several member states to test a wide range of toys and identify any potential hazards, such as small parts that could pose a choking risk or the presence of toxic materials.

When they found a problem, those MSAs would work with manufacturers to help them address the issue and make their products safer for children.

It was incredibly satisfying to know I was making a real difference in protecting consumers.

Furthermore, working in Brussels meant collaborating with people from all over Europe, and sometimes communication wasn’t a problem, as we were all fluent in English.

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Rui Alves
ILLUMINATION

Language teacher, linguist, coach, published author, editor, and international nonfiction book awards judge. Digital ronin, musician, and alchemist of sound.