The new package has the role to improve free movement of goods within the internal market by removing barriers to trade and enhancing competitiveness and safety for consumers. EPHA is concerned that this package does not take into account the possible concerns of European citizens following the policy impact of these instruments.
This package is concentrated on 2 legal instruments: - Mutual Recognition:
This principle will facilitate access to goods by sorting out some "obstacles". It entails that EU countries of destination cannot forbid the sale on their territories of products lawfully marketed in another EU country.
- Revision of the "new approach system":
This regulation sets out the requirements for accreditation, market surveillance and controls of products entering the Community market and a common framework for the marketing of products. EPHA is concerned that ’new approach’ system adopts general principles and does not look in details to specific goods such as food which could affect safety of the EU citizens and damage the outcome on health.
Background reading: The European Parliament and Council stated that this will enable safer products create greater consumer confidence.
Free movement of goods has to go hand-in-hand with high safety standards. Most goods in the EU (lifts, engines, electrical appliances, pharmaceutical products etc.) are governed by common standards laid down in sectoral regulations. The bodies which accredit the agencies that assess product conformity with the rules are, and will remain, national. The aim was not to set up new agencies or bodies nor to increase the number of inspections but to make existing instruments more effective and to define clearly the responsibilities of manufacturers and importers as well as Member States.
The package main goal is to strengthen the internal market of a wide range of other products, which are not subject to EU harmonisation, such as various types of foodstuffs (for example bread and pasta), furniture, bicycles, ladders and precious metals, etc. Together they represent more than 15% of intra EU trade in goods. These products are very often subject to many different national rules laying down the requirements that these products should meet. Until now, the differences between these rules in many Member States discouraged companies, in particular small and medium enterprises, from venturing outside their domestic market because they had to prove that their products which were legally sold in a given Member State comply with technical rules in other Member States.
The regulation also lays down rules on the CE mark on goods. It will now be clear that the CE mark does not guarantee safety but simply that the product complies with the relevant directive. The legislation as adopted does provide for the possibility of putting a safety marking, intended this time for the consumer and not for the accreditation bodies. It also states that national marks will continue to coexist along with the CE mark provided they bring added value regarding safety and as long as a common solution of all Member States has not been found. The regulation will apply from January 2010.
