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16/04/2014
The European Commission welcomes today's European Parliament vote in favour of new rules to improve the safety of consumer products circulating in the EU's internal market - including those imported from outside the EU - and to step-up market surveillance concerning all non-food products. This will contribute to strengthening consumer protection. It will also create a level playing field for business by ensuring that responsible manufacturers do not suffer unfair competition from products which do not comply with European safety or environmental rules.
Unsafe products should not reach consumers or other users. Their improved identification and traceability will enable their quick removal from circulation within the EU. The new legislation will also help business and consumers by ensuring that a product's country of origin is indicated according to clear and unambiguous rules.
European Commission Vice-President @AntonioTajaniEU, Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, said: "I am pleased the Parliament has voted in favour of new measures for safer, compliant products, to both protect consumers from health risks and protect business from unfair competition. Consistent market surveillance across the EU is necessary to avoid weak spots which threaten the public interest and create unbalanced trading conditions. We now look to the Council to also approve these measures".
European Commissioner for Consumer Policy Neven Mimica, added: "Consumer must be able to trust in the safety of products circulating in the Single Market. Today's vote of the Parliament is an important step to improve product safety and market surveillance and to step up the effectiveness of enforcement. Now it is crucial to find a solution with the Council to overcome the deadlock on the country-of-origin provision and to ensure the important package is adopted soon".
The key changes approved by the European Parliament today are:
For more detail see: IP/13/111: Safer products and a level playing field in the internal market.
The proposal will now be submitted to the Council for its final approval. Once adopted by the Council the new legislation is expected to come into effect in 2015. Its rules will be enforced by the national market surveillance authorities in EU countries.
In the EU and the European Free Trade Area/European Economic Area countries, goods move freely and consumers and businesses can buy and sell to more than 490 million people. EU consumer product safety rules and those concerning their ongoing surveillance in the market by national authorities form the basis for a safe single market. But these rules are currently scattered between different pieces of legislation, thus creating gaps and overlaps. With the agreement of the Council, Directive 87/357/EEC on food-imitating products and Directive 2001/95/EC on general product safety will be replaced by a new state-of-the-art Consumer Product Safety Regulation. The rules governing market surveillance will also be merged into one legal instrument, applicable to all (non-food) products.
More information available at:
The entire package can be found on DG SANCO and DG ENTR websites.