Brussels, 17/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - Welcomed unreservedly by the European Consumers' Bureau (known by its French acronym, BEUC), the green light given by the European Parliament on 15 April to the legislative package to tighten up the safety of consumer products and market supervision within the EU (see EUROPE 11062) has been criticised by Eurocommerce on one point: the “Made in” label for products, which the association feels is too complicated.
According to BEUC, the Parliament's vote reflects the timely intention of the MEPs to tackle the persistent presence of dangerous products on the EU market and refers to the following as its main progress: - the creation, at European level, of a database listing accidents and injuries, in order to allow producers to react to various types of injuries and the monitoring authorities to focus on high-risk products; - tougher sanctions and fines against the resellers and manufacturers responsible, including naming and shaming the company in question; - the obligation for the supervisory authorities to check the safety of products sold online; - the reinforcement of the principle of precaution, guaranteeing that potentially dangerous products are withdrawn from the market, on the basis of any reasoned presumption that the product in question could be dangerous.
“The consistent contribution of the European Parliament to improving the safety of consumer products will not see the light of day unless the governments redouble their efforts rapidly to transpose these new rules. The debate on whether or not there should be obligatory labelling of the origin of products must not prevent progress on product safety from rapidly taking effect on the ground”, said BEUC Director General, Monique Goyens.
She went on to stress that “we need strong market supervision authorities, with sufficient resources to check the entire chain. Making them check products sold online is obviously a necessary measure, given how quickly our consumer habits are changing”". BEUC points out that the 41 million injuries reported every year represent a cost of €78 billion in health care within the EU, which puts the medical systems under considerable pressure. “Bringing together the data on injuries is one way of reducing the number of accidents by encouraging producers to improve their products and the legislator to improve the laws.”
“Made In”: a burden without benefit, says Eurocommerce. Eurocommerce, which is less delighted by the move, sees the MEPs” support for the introduction of the “Made in” label on products as the Parliament's desire to impose new obligations on economic operators, which will do nothing to improve the safety of products and will make the supply chain excessively complicated. “The so-called mandatory 'made in' or 'country of origin' labelling creates additional costs and burdens for businesses without clear benefits for product safety”, said Christian Verschueren, the Director General of Eurocommerce. However, the organisation does welcome the new elements of progress, such as the clarification of obligations on distributors and the option for operators to provide the market supervision authorities with information online. (AN)