CASP 2019 - Horizontal Activities

The Horizontal Activities (HAs) aim at fostering collaboration between the Market Surveillance Authorities (MSAs) in the EU and EEA/EFTA countries. As part of CASP 2019, three HAs took place.

The efficacy of the protection of consumers within the Single Market is being dramatically challenged by the continuous growth of e-commerce. If left unmonitored, products ordered online can pose significant risks to European consumers. Improving online surveillance is critical; so far national efforts have proved to be fragmented so active cooperation between Member States is crucial.

The HA on online surveillance aimed at exchanging best practices between participating MSAs, and at developing a specific case study based on text-mining technology.

• Relevant best practices were mapped and shared.
• A case study demonstrated the potential applications of text-mining technology to online market surveillance.

The safety of products within the European Single Market requires MSAs to identify, assess and qualify the actual risks for consumers in a consistent way.

The HA focused on the practical implementation of the existing risk assessment principles and methodology established at European level and the tool that implements these principles (the SAGA tool).

The activity allowed MSAs to jointly discuss the assessments of the risk for specific cases and to find ways to find additional tips and tools that can facilitate the work of risk assessors.

Participants prepared templates for typical risk scenarios, which were then used for the assessment of the risks related to hazards identified during lab tests for all CASP2019 product categories.

The templates produced for the risk scenarios have also been included and made available in the SAGA tool.

All MSAs across the EU (and EEA/EFTA countries) are confronted with similar challenges. Therefore, it is in the best common interest for MSA to share and learn from the initiatives and projects that have shown singular added-value and efficiency.

The specific objective of the HA on knowledge sharing was to focus on two areas of interest to all participants, by providing an opportunity to discuss and analyse the practical benefits of these initiatives.

• "Cooperation between Market Surveillance and Customs authorities",organised in September 2019 and hosted in Warsaw (Poland), by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection of Poland (UOKiK);
• "Use of Information and Communication Techniques in Market Surveillance", organised in January 2020 in Helsinki (Finland) by Tukes, the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency;