The proposal for an EU regulation on general product safety (GPSR), which aims to take account of new technologies and the challenges posed by online trade, was under discussion in the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Affairs (IMCO) Committee on Monday 28 February.
Summarising the content of the compromise amendments from 786 amendments tabled (including 119 from the IMCO Committee), Dita Charanzová (Renew Europe, Czech Republic), rapporteur (see EUROPE 12865/10), recalled that she wants a precautionary principle in the chapeau of the regulation, linked to the risk-based approach, two complementary principles. “The precautionary principle should not be used as an excuse for derogations from general management principles”, she said.
Software. Software should not be included in the regulation as it is placed on the market independently of physical products. “The inclusion of software would introduce disproportionality in the scope, but also legal uncertainties”, as how to establish links between software, safety issues, risks for consumers? How to define immaterial or material damage? On the basis of what criteria, what standards? Which supervisory authority? These are many open questions.
The general requirement to have a responsible person for all products seems disproportionate and costly, especially for products such as cars, as the proposed regulation would require regular testing.
Digital sales sites. All MEPs want these sites to make online shopping safer for consumers, hence the need to strengthen the duties of these sites and to cooperate with market surveillance authorities to detect and remove unsafe products from databases. Additional measures could be made binding, but without jeopardising the limited liability regime for platforms.
See the draft report: https://aeur.eu/f/k0 (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)