Answer given by Mr Reynders on behalf of the European Commission

16.9.2022

The Commission takes note of the Honourable Member’s concerns about difficulties that businesses importing goods from China encounter in ensuring that these products meet conformity requirements under EC law. Remedies for importers of goods from China under Chinese law is an issue outside of the scope of EC law.

As regards the protection of consumers from risks relating to non-conforming products, it is for the importers or fulfilment service providers to ensure that all applicable EU legislation is respected before placing products on the EU market.

In particular, an importer of a third-country product must ensure that the appropriate conformity assessment procedure has been carried out by the manufacturer and that the manufacturer has drawn up the technical documentation, affixed the relevant conformity marking (e.g. CE marking), fulfilled his traceability obligations and where relevant, added instructions and safety information in a language easily understood by consumers and other end-users.

The appropriate conformity assessment procedure is established in EU legislation and, in cases where third party conformity assessment is mandated, the competent conformity assessment bodies must be notified by Member States and established in the EU.

To the Commission’s knowledge, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade is not an EU-established conformity assessment body and therefore not in a position to certify the conformity of any product on the EU market.