Scandals such as the breast implant affair are now coming to an end, if the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Elżbieta Bieńkowska, is to be believed. On Tuesday 19 December, she announced the launch of two regulations: one of them for facilitating the marketing of a product in another member state and the other for beefing up controls by the national authorities.
The Commissioner pointed out that, "The market is based on confidence”. She presented the two initiatives together with Jyrki Katainen, the Vice President in charge of employment and growth. The former pointed out that, “consumers need to be able to be sure that products they use have the same level of quality wherever they come from and at the national authorities must have the assurances that the products available on their markets do not present any danger to their citizens”. She also emphasised that their confidence had been significantly shaken following the breast implant and “Dieselgate” scandals.
The figures for non-compliant products speak for themselves: every year the European Rapid Alert System for dangerous non-food products (RAPEX) identifies around 2,000 dangerous products. The inspections carried out by the monitoring authorities demonstrate that 32% of toys, 58% of electronic goods and 47% of construction products do not comply with European legislation.
Therefore, with regard to marketing, the European Commission would like to improve and speed up mutual recognition and strengthen implementation of European rules to tackle the marketing of either dangerous or non-compliant products. The initiative is to target goods that are not the subject of European harmonisation, such as shoes and jewellery, as explained by Mr Katainen, and do not involve foodstuffs or even medicines, which are the subject of another regulation.
Regulation on the mutual recognition of goods. In theory, when an enterprise in a member state legally markets a product in member states, it can do so in all member states of the Union. In practice, however, the companies and national authorities responsible for market monitoring have to confront a whole range of problems. They do not know, for example, precisely in what cases mutual recognition applies. In this connection, the Commission is proposing to create a network of contact points to facilitate communication between the authorities and enterprise.
The European Commission also wants to facilitate procedures for companies that want to contest a refusal of access to a new market. In this regard, the Commission is pushing forward with the SOLVIT network. This network helps to settle internal market problems and resolve disputes through dialogue between the different parties. If this is not successful, the Commission can intervene and provide a recommendation.
The Commission is also proposing to provide companies with the possibility to present a voluntary declaration to prove that their marketed products meet the requirements of the member state in question.
Commissioner Bieńkowska explains that the Commission's overall objective is to reduce authorisation periods by an average of a year to three months (this would therefore be the objective sought by the Commission).
Regulation involving respect and effective application of legislation. The second Commission proposal seeks to enhance cooperation between the national market monitoring authorities.
The Commission has observed that the current system is not functioning well. It would like to create a network of EU market monitoring authorities in an effort to improve the coordination of inspections and pool knowledge and working methods. The Commission would like to step up its action in cross-border investigations particularly with RAPEX and the ICSMS (‘Information and Communication System on Market Surveillance').
The Commission is proposing to create a single point of contact - a single liaison office - at a level of each member state, in an effort to facilitate the coordination of cross-border level investigations. The Commission would also like to make the existence of an identifiable representative obligatory and facilitate contacts for all companies marketing goods within the single market. Finally, the Commission would like to improve the exchange of information and common action between customs in an effort to improve the inspections of goods from third countries and, in this regard, enhance information exchanges on non-compliant products.
No European agency for controlling goods. Commissioner Bieńkowska has indicated to journalists that the European Commission was not at all proposing a European agency for controlling goods. One source close to the dossier indicated, however, that the proposal could come about in the future. Nonetheless, although it is easy to control goods harmonised at European level and production and where marketing goods are concentrated, such as busses, it is difficult to do this for inspections involving goods such as jewellery and footwear and where marketing and production are equally diffuse.
BusinessEurope satisfied. BusinessEurope welcomed this initiative and considered that it came at the very right time in order to improve the free circulation goods. The organisation highlights the need to improve cooperation between the authorities and to better inform companies about mutual recognition. The organisation calls on the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU to put these initiatives at the top of its priorities. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)