Market surveillance and compliance of products

 

SUMMARY OF:

Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 — market surveillance and compliance of products

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?

• It aims to improve how the free movement of goods principle works by strengthening market surveillance* of products covered by EU hamonisation legislation. This must ensure a high level of protection of health and safety, in general and in the workplace, and protect consumers, the environment, public security and other public interest.
• It lays down rules and procedures for economic operators* and establishes a system for their cooperation with supervisory authorities.
• It establishes controls on products imported into the EU.
• It deletes and replaces Articles 15 to 29 of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 (see summary on Accreditation and market surveillance) and amends Directive 2004/42/EC and Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 (see summary on Construction products).

KEY POINTS

The regulation applies to products:

• covered by EU harmonisation legislation (and set out in Annex I);
• imported into the EU which are not subject to specific legislation.

Certain products may not be offered for sale to EU consumers without an economic operator established in the EU:

• who keeps EU conformity and performance declarations and makes these and the technical documentation available to authorities when asked;
• who informs the authorities when they consider a product poses a risk;
• who cooperates with the authorities, when asked, by taking immediate corrective action — from remedying the fault to recall or destroying the item — if a product is considered non-compliant, and helps to eliminate or mitigate risks;
• whose name and contact details are on the product, packaging or accompanying document.

Market surveillance authorities:

• carry out effective surveillance of products sold online and offline;
• perform appropriate documentary, physical and laboratory checks on products, taking into account possible hazards;
• act when a product, properly installed, maintained and used for its intended purpose:
  • could damage users’ health and safety,
  • does not conform to EU legislation;
• ensure economic operators take corrective action when instructed and act when they fail to do so;
• establish procedures to follow up complaints and reports and to verify economic operators have taken corrective action;
• apply a high level of transparency and make available to the public any information they consider relevant to protect end users’ interests;
• provide economic operators with grounds for their decisions to give them an opportunity to respond;
• notify the European Commission and the other EU countries immediately of any measures they take if these could have an impact in other EU countries;
• may ask colleagues elsewhere in the EU to help with investigations and enforcement and participate in peer reviews to improve the system’s overall efficiency;
• have powers to:
  • start investigations on their own initiative,
  • require economic operators to provide relevant documents, data and information on supply chains, distribution networks, product models and ownership of websites,
  • carry out unannounced onsite inspections and physical checks,
  • enter any premises, land or means of transport an economic operator uses,
  • acquire product samples without revealing their identity,
  • instruct economic operators to take measures to end non-compliance or eliminate risk,
  • prohibit or restrict availability of a product and order it be withdrawn or recalled,
  • insist in case of serious risk that product content is removed from a website or require it be accompanied by a warning,
  • adopt measures, including penalties, against economic operators that fail to act.

EU countries:

• designate one or more authorities with the powers of market surveillance, investigation and enforcement;
• appoint a single liaison office to represent the surveillance authorities and communicate the country’s national strategy;
• ensure the authorities and office have sufficient budgetary and other resources;
• may authorise surveillance authorities to reclaim from an economic operator all the costs they incur when pursuing non-compliance cases;
• draw up an overarching national market surveillance strategy every 4 years from 16 July 2022 to promote a consistent, comprehensive and integrated approach to market surveillance — this must include:
  • data on non-compliant products,
  • priority areas for enforcing the EU legislation,
  • enforcement activities to reduce non-compliance,
  • assessment of cooperation between authorities in other EU countries;
• provide economic operators, at their request and free of charge, information on national implementation of EU product harmonisation legislation;
• introduce effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties and notify these to the Commission by 16 October 2021.

The Commission:

• ensures the Your Europe portal provides users with easy online access to information about the EU’s product requirements, rights, obligations and rules;
• adopts implementing acts;
• assists the EU Product Compliance Network (see below) in all its activities;
• maintains a computer system to store and process all the data collected;
• reports to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee by 31 December 2026, and every 5 years thereafter, on the regulation’s implementation.

Specific rules apply to imported products:

• EU countries designate authorities with the necessary powers to check imports;
• market surveillance authorities provide them with information on products and economic operators where a high risk of non-compliance has been identified;
• authorities may impound a product if the necessary documentation is absent or there are concerns it presents a serious health, safety, environmental or public interest risk, and only release it when certain conditions are met.

The regulation:

• establishes an EU Product Compliance Network — it:
  • develops cooperation between the surveillance authorities and the Commission;
  • contains national and Commission representatives and experts;
  • organises a range of activities to improve market surveillance across the EU.

FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?

It applies from 16 July 2021. However, Articles 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 (on the EU Product Compliance Network) and 36 (on financing activities) apply from 1 January 2021.

BACKGROUND

For more information, see:

• Market surveillance for products (European Commission).

KEY TERMS

MAIN DOCUMENT

Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on market surveillance and compliance of products and amending Directive 2004/42/EC and Regulations (EC) No 765/2008 and (EU) No 305/2011 (OJ L 169, 25.6.2019, pp. 1-44)

RELATED DOCUMENTS

Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2011 laying down harmonised conditions for the marketing of construction products and repealing Council Directive 89/106/EEC (OJ L 88, 4.4.2011, pp. 5-43)

Successive amendments to Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 have been incorporated into the original text. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.

Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 339/93 (OJ L 218, 13.8.2008, pp. 30-47)

Directive 2004/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on the limitation of emissions of volatile organic compounds due to the use of organic solvents in certain paints and varnishes and vehicle refinishing products and amending Directive 1999/13/EC (OJ L 143, 30.4.2004, pp. 87-96)

See consolidated version.

last update 30.08.2019