EU adopts regulation to keep unsafe products off the market

17 Jun 2019 11:54 AM

The EU is stepping up efforts to ensure that only products that are safe and compliant with EU legislation can be placed on the market. The Council recently adopted a regulation which strengthens market surveillance in order to ensure that products placed on the market in the EU are safe and compliant with EU legislation. The regulation also ensures stricter enforcement of EU rules in an effort to increase consumers' confidence in products placed on the EU market.

Niculae BĂDĂLĂU, Romanian Minister of economy recently said:

These new rules will guarantee that products placed on the Single Market, including products traded online, comply with our high common EU rules, are certified and meet the quality and safety standards. They will also ensure the free movement of goods, consumer protection and a level-playing field for free competition for all economic operators.

The regulation :

• consolidates the existing framework for market surveillance activities;
• addresses the challenges of international e-commerce and online trade;
• encourages joint actions by market surveillance authorities from several member states;
• introduces a fully digital workflow for improving the exchange of information between authorities and the Commission;
• creates a strengthened framework for controls on products entering the single market and for improved cooperation between market surveillance authorities and customs authorities.

Next steps

The regulation still has to be signed and published in the Official Journal of the EU. It will enter into force on the twentieth day following publication. It will apply two years from the date of entry into force. A number of provisions will however apply as of 1 January 2021.

Background

Within the single market, free movement of goods is the most developed of all four fundamental freedoms. It generates around 25% of EU GDP and 75% of trade in goods between EU member states. The EU accounts for around one sixth of the world’s trade in goods. Trade in goods between EU member states was valued at €3 063 billion in 2015.

The adopted regulation is part of the so-called "Goods package", which also included the regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mutual recognition of goods lawfully marketed in another member state, which was adopted in March 2019.

• Full text of the adopted regulation

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