Improvements in consumer health and safety represent one of the political priorities announced by the Commission. This proposal is framed within the actions intended to achieve this objective. The General Product Safety Directive and other Directives related to product safety have established an elevated level of consumer protection in the European Union. Nevertheless, recent crises in the food sector and certain weaknesses in the safety of industrial products have demonstrated the need to reinforce the present legal regime. Experience so far has shown some weaknesses in the provisions of the Directive, which have limited the achievement of its objectives and, in addition, some consumer protection needs which are not sufficiently addressed in the Directive as it presently stands. Statistics which have been collected through the European Home and Leisure Accidents Surveillance System (EHLASS), the European global system for collecting uniform data on consumer accidents, indicated a high number of fatalities due to these types of accidents, part of which are related to the use of consumer products. The annual number of fatalities in the Union during home and leisure activities was (in 1996) 83 000, while approximately 6 000 die at the workplace and 45 000 in traffic accidents. Home and leisure accidents are the most important cause of death for persons under 35 years of age. However, it is important to note that these figures also include accidents which may not necessarily involve dangerous products within the meaning of the above mentioned Directive.