New EU regulation on Market Surveillance and Compliance of Products

The regulation, denoted (EU) 2019/1020, became fully applicable on 16 July and amends the European Directive 204/42/EC and Regulations (EC) No. 765/2008 and (EU) No. 305/2011.

The regulation covers market surveillance of non-food products (‘’industrial products’’) whose placement on the internal market is subject to European “harmonizing legal acts”, such as the Low Voltage Directive.

Basically, the aim of the regulation is to oblige companies not established within the EU/EEA to appoint an economic operator within this territory, who will have far-reaching obligations to remedy non-compliance. Amongst the new stipulations are:

• Requires manufacturers to designate an Authorized Representative with EU/EEA to facilitate contacts with market surveillance authorities.
• Describes how national market surveillance should be organized and how the relevant authorities in the different countries should cooperate, incl. procedure for mutual assistance and use of evidence.
• Provides a set of powers for market surveillance authorities, (incl. power to access data and documents, to carry out on-site inspections and make test purchases; also to withdraw products from the market and destroy them, impose penalties and order the recovery of profits).
• Not least, it strengthens the provisions for customs controls on products entering the  European market.

The new regulation may be seen in full here.

The European member states must adjust their national legislation accordingly, including the German Product safety law ProdSG. This law also concerns the special German GS-certification scheme, which is at the same time being somewhat updated. The revised ProdSG is, however, not yet made effective.

For further information, please contact Alexander.Neumaier@nemko.com