Strasbourg, 08/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - As recommended by its rapporteur, Laura Gonzalez Alvarez (Izquierda Unida), the European Parliament endorsed the common draft Directive on General Product Safety approved by the Conciliation Committee. Parliament's concerns were satisfied on several points - the safety of services (the Commission will identify Community requirements, options and action priorities for the safety of services by 1 January 2003 and will report back to the Council and the EP, making proposals where appropriate); certification (it is recognised that independent and appropriate certification is an instrument that can ensure that more stringent criteria are applied to product safety); comitology (the Commission will report to the EP and the Council every three years on its standardisation programmes); and the precautionary principle (the Member States' competent authorities must take due account of the precautionary principle when deciding on any product that might be dangerous).
Ms Gonzalez Alvarez regretted that the European Parliament itself had, by a few votes, rejected the part of the text banning the export to third countries of products prohibited in the EU and hence was not discussed in conciliation, but at least the Commission made a verbal pledge along these lines.
David Byrne welcomes endorsement of directive for protecting consumer health and safety
Welcoming the EP's endorsement of the revised Directive, the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, David Byrne, said he appreciated the EP's support in ensuring the rapid adoption of these new rules which will improve the safety of European citizens in terms of non-food products. He commented in a press release that "The European institutions have demonstrated that they act quickly in response to the concerns of citizens… This shows our determination to improve risk management tools. It is now up to producers, distributors and national authorities in particular to make sure all the new rules will be fully respected in day-to-day practice".
The general obligation to market only safe products remains unchanged from the initial draft. The improvements in the revised text principally aim to 1) extend the Directive's scope of application. In future, the rules will apply to all consumer products, including products "migrating" from the professional sector to the consumer market and products used or made available to consumers by service suppliers such as beauty centres, hotels, etc; 2) a better definition and reinforcement of the responsibilities of producers and distributors, including the responsibly to recall dangerous products when necessary, and greater transparency, obliging producers and distributors to inform authorities and collaborate with them if products prove to be dangerous. It also gives consumers the right to know which products are dangerous and what action has been taken; 3) more active market surveillance and better collaboration between national and surveillance authorities, including the establishment of a European Product Safety Network; 4) more stringent criteria for assessing product safety; and 5) simpler rules for rapid international at Community level to remove dangerous products from the market, and strengthened operational rules for the EU Rapid Alert System.
The Directive will come into force on the day of its publication in the Official Journal and as of then the Member States will have two years to implement the new rules at national level.