Product Safety and Market Surveillance Package

Product safety and Market Surveillance package
Product safety and Market Surveillance package

On 13 February 2013 the European Commission adopted a comprehensive package on Product Safety and Market Surveillance in order to improve safety of consumer products, in particular by strengthening product identification and traceability, and to simplify and improve the framework of market surveillance of products, particularly by eliminating currently existing overlaps and inconsistencies. The package, which is a key action of the Single Market Act II, consists of two legislative initiatives:

a proposal for a new Regulation on Consumer Product Safety and a proposal for a single Regulation on Market Surveillance of Products.
On 17 October 2013 draft reports on Consumer Product Safety and Market Surveillance have been adopted in Committee by an overwhelming majority. With regard to Market Surveillance of Products the Members agreed to harmonise penalties for infringements of the proposed Regulation to at least offset the economic advantage sought through the infringement as well as to encourage the allocation of revenues collected from such penalties to market surveillance activities.
Although the IMCO Committee unanimously approved the mandate to enter trialogue negotiations on both draft reports, due to the developments in the Council no progress has been achieved and the reports were submitted to the 2014 April II plenary. The IMCO reports were adopted by the Plenary on 15 April 2014, however the proposal to introduce a voluntary 'EU Safety Tested' marking was rejected.