Work is progressing in the EU Council bodies on the European Commission’s proposal for a European regulation on general product safety, presented at the end of June to adapt the outdated 2001 EU legislation (Directive 2001/95/EC) to the digital age and to take account of the risks associated with new technologies.
The aim of this proposal is to ensure that only safe products can be placed on the EU market, whether they are sold online or in shops and regardless of their country of origin (inside or outside the EU) by re-establishing essential rules on the general safety of products placed or made available on the market (see EUROPE 12865/10 , 12752/2).
A compromise proposal from the French Presidency of the EU Council, dated 10 February and seen by EUROPE, provides some clarifications to the draft text detailed in our publication in January, in particular to provide legal certainty to economic operators (see EUROPE 12873/2).
Third-country online vendors. In order to establish whether the offer of the third-country-based online vendor is targeted at consumers or other end-users within the EU, the January compromise stated that a case-by-case assessment would be made on the basis of the criteria set out in case law by the EU Court of Justice.
The new text adds that if an online operator delivers its product to addresses in the EU, accepts currencies used in Member States for payment by users within the EU, and uses an official EU language, it can be considered to have directed its activities to EU consumers or other end-users within the EU.
The physical execution of an order for a product from a non-EU online seller, including by an execution service provider (whether or not established in the EU), to end-users within the EU should confirm that a product has been placed on the EU market. Therefore, if manufacturers or distributors are based outside the EU and direct their product offerings for sale online to the EU market, they will have to comply with the requirements of the regulation, the text says.
Digital or physical interconnections and interrelationships. The text of the compromise specifies in a recital that the interconnections and interrelations of a product, and thus the possibility of interacting digitally or physically with another product, must not compromise its security.
Scientific uncertainties and the precautionary principle. A recital states that where an activity or substance presents a plausible threat of harm, but there is insufficient scientific evidence or no agreement on the nature or extent of likely adverse effects, the precautionary principle should guide the various actors in their decision-making.
A compromise proposal, dated 15 February, specifies the obligations of an agent appointed by the manufacturer. It was already agreed that, upon request from a market surveillance authority, the authorised representative should provide all the information and documents necessary to demonstrate the safety of the product in an official language understandable by this authority.
In addition, it will have to inform the competent national authorities of any action taken to eliminate the risks of the products covered by their mandate, by notifying them in ‘Safety Gate’, the EU’s online rapid alert system for dangerous products.
See the texts: https://aeur.eu/f/if and https://aeur.eu/f/ig (Original version in France by Aminata Niang)