Market surveillance ensures that non-food products on the EU market do not endanger European consumers and workers. It also ensures the protection of other public interests such as the environment, security and fairness in trade. It includes actions such as product withdrawals, recalls and the application of sanctions to stop the circulation of non-compliant products and/or bring them into compliance.
Market surveillance is crucial for the smooth functioning of the single market. It helps protect:
Several factors affect the market surveillance authorities' ability to check whether products made available in the EU are manufactured according to EU law:
The major objective of the Commission is to ensure that EU market surveillance legislation provides:
Regulation (EC) 765/2008 sets out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products. The Regulation:
Decision 768/2008/EC on a common framework for the marketing of products contains provisions on market surveillance, obligations of businesses, traceability and safeguard mechanisms. These provisions are being incorporated in sector specific legislation.
Directive 2001/95/EC (the General Product Safety Directive) contains additional market surveillance provisions, notably for non-harmonised consumer products.
The Single Market Strategy adopted on 28 October 2015 emphasised that the growing number of illegal and non-compliant products in the single market distorts competition among businesses and puts consumers at risk.
In June 2019 Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products was published, aiming at improving and modernising market surveillance. It will apply to 70 regulations and directives (listed in its Annex I) that harmonise at EU level requirements on non-food products to protect consumers, health and safety, the environment and other public interests. Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 will replace the market surveillance provisions of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 as from 16 July 2021, and will improve them in particular by
In July 2017, the Commission issued guidelines to help national market surveillance authorities better control products sold online. These guidelines clarify:
Another objective is to facilitate the implementation of the market surveillance framework. In particular, the Commission supports the development of a common understanding of market surveillance issues and cooperation among national authorities. It does this through actions such as: