Single market for goods

New Legislative Framework

New Legislative Framework for marketing of products

The New Legislative Framework, the modernisation of the New Approach to the marketing of products, was adopted in Council on 9 July 2008 and published in the Official Journal on 13 August 2008. This broad package of measures designed to remove the remaining obstacles to the free circulation of products provides a major boost for trade in goods among the EU Member States.

It will particularly benefit small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), which will no longer be discouraged from doing business outside their domestic markets. Existing market surveillance systems for industrial products will be strengthened and aligned with import controls. These measures will reinforce the role and credibility of CE marking.

In addition, trade in goods which do not fall under EU-legislation will be improved. From now on a Member State that intends to refuse a product access to its market has the duty to talk to the enterprise concerned and give detailed reasons, making life easier for companies.

The package of measures will have an impact on a large number of industrial sectors, with a share of market volume of around € 1 500 billion a year. The legal texts published on OJEU are:

The aim is to help the internal market for goods work better and to strengthen and modernise conditions for placing a wide range of industrial products on the market in the EU. The package builds on existing systems to reinforce the application and enforcement of internal market legislation. It:

Improves market surveillance rules, to better protect both consumers and professionals from unsafe products, including imports from third countries. This particularly applies to procedures for products which can be a hazard to, health or the environment, which will be withdrawn from the market;
Boost the quality of (and hence confidence in) the conformity assessment of products through stronger clearer rules on the requirements for the notification of conformity assessment bodies (testing, certification and inspection laboratories) including the increased use of accreditation; a system to ensure that assessment bodies provide the high quality services that manufacturers, consumers and public authorities need;
Clarifies the meaning of CE marking and so enhances its credibility. In addition the CE marking is to be protected as a trade mark, which will give authorities and competitors additional means to take legal action against abuse;
Establishes a common legal framework for industrial products in the form of a toolbox of measures for use in future legislation. This includes provisions to support market surveillance and the application of CE the marking, definitions of terms commonly used in product legislation (but sometimes used differently at present) and procedures which will allow future sectoral legislation to become more consistent and easier to implement.

The provisions are split between Regulation 765 and Decision 768 for legal reasons, but are fully complementary and together form the basis of a consistent legal framework for the marketing of products. The provisions of the Decision will be fed into existing Directives as and when they are revised - in effect, it is a basis for future regulation.

Regulation 764/2008 (the new mutual recognition regulation) also strengthens the internal market of a wide range of other products, not subject to EU harmonisation, for example various foodstuffs such as bread and pasta, furniture, bicycles, ladders and precious metals, etc. Together they represent more than 15% of intra-EU trade in goods.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEW LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK [77 KB]

Alignment of existing legislation with the model provisions of Decision 768/2008/EC

To be operational the model provisions of the Decision need to be incorporated into existing Directives when they are next revised. To accelerate this process, on 21 November 2011, the Commission adopted an “Alignment Package” consisting of following directives (which would not otherwise have been revised in the near future):

Low Voltage Directive: Directive 2006/95/EEC on the harmonisation of the laws of Member States relating to electrical equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits;
Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive: Directive 2004/108/EC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to electromagnetic compatibility and repealing Directive 89/336/EEC;
ATEX Directive: Directive 94/9/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres;
Lifts Directive: European Parliament and Council Directive 95/16/EC of 29 June 1995 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to lifts;
Simple Pressure Vessels Directive: Council Directive 2009//105/EC on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to simple pressure vessels;
Measuring Instruments Directive: Directive 2004/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on measuring instruments;
Non-automatic Weighing Instruments Directive: Council Directive 2009/23/EEC on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to non-automatic weighing instruments;
Civil Explosives Directive: Council Directive 93/15/EEC on the harmonisation of the provisions relating to the placing on the market and supervision of explosives for civil use;
Pyrotechnic Articles Directive: Directive 2007/23/EC on the placing on the market of pyrotechnic articles.

The Press release can be found here: Product safety improved in nine industry sectors - 21/11/2011

Proposals:

This was preceded by consultation of economic operators, users, public authorities, conformity assessment bodies, with direct experience of this sector legislation. These documents contain an overview of the reactions from each category of respondents:

In parallel to the public consultation, the Commission has carried out a specific consultation of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) active in the sectors concerned through the Enterprise Europe Network. The following document pdf - 55 KB [55 KB] contains an overview of the replies provided by the SMEs consulted.

The Alignment Package will now follow the legislative procedure before the Council and the European Parliament.

The Impact Assessment prepared in relation to the Alignment Package

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