In a context of globalized and dynamic markets, asymmetries of information and market power between consumers and suppliers, people are exposed to unsafe products that can cause serious health conditions and risks to their life and property. Furthermore, to the extent that more developed jurisdictions strengthen their surveillance capacity and cooperation between them to prevent the entry of unsafe products into their territories, the probability increases that unsafe products will be diverted to countries with lower levels of protection.
In this context, the member states of the Organization of American States (OAS), based on the OAS Charter, in Declarations of Heads of State and Government of the region and in successive resolutions of the General Assembly since 2009, supported the creation of the Consumer Safety and Health Network (CSHN) , with the objective of strengthening national and regional cooperation capacities in order to allow the early detection of consumer products dangerous substances and the adoption of coordinated actions among the competent organizations, and thus prevent the risks from materializing in harm to consumers in the Americas.
Product safety is, on the one hand, an international challenge, which countries cannot face in isolation, but rather seek cooperation at the subregional, hemispheric and global levels. Furthermore, it is an inter-institutional challenge, since it exceeds the scope of the powers of consumer protection agencies and must necessarily be approached from a systemic and interdisciplinary perspective that involves all national institutions with tasks related to product safety. , including health surveillance authorities, ministries of health, metrology, standardization and quality institutes, customs administrations, among others.
The CSHN offers countries a scope for cooperation at a technical level to combat, as a region, the circulation of unsafe products in their markets. Among other aspects, the CSHN has promoted and supported the creation or strengthening of national product safety market surveillance systems, trained hundreds of specialists and authorities, and administered the only regional portal on safety alerts in the Americas.
A central element of the CSHN that supports and strengthens cooperation between Member States and national capacities in the matter is the Inter-American Rapid Alert System (SIAR) that allows national agencies to generate and quickly exchange information on consumer product safety alerts in a secure and collaborative environment.