Towards Comprehensive and Efficient Market Surveillance

Orgalime calls on all member states to take full responsibility for ensuring efficient and harmonised market surveillance.  Market surveillance should be quick, homogeneous and effective so as to protect users from unsafe products, while preserving the rights and enforcing the obligations not only of manufacturers but of all market operators.  For this to happen, it is necessary that the responsibility for breach of EU regulatory requirements and its enforcement should be redefined and focused on those who place a product on the market instead of only those who design and produce a product.

Orgalime believes that the European Commission should initiate such changes within the review of the legal framework of New Approach directives.  The subsidiarity principle should not deter the Commission from encouraging intelligent market surveillance by member states authorities.  The role of the Commission could be to help facilitate co-operation between member states and a dialogue with trade and consumer organisations.