“The proposals submitted today by the European Commission to improve the free movement of goods will be amongst the main subjects of discussion for the EU Council during the German presidency”, stated Federal Minister of Economics and Technology Michael Glos.
The proposals by the Commission aim at optimizing the regulatory model of the “new approach”. For some years now, this innovative system for EU-wide harmonization, which relies on the private sector’s own responsibility for the placing of products on the market without relieving governments of their responsibility, has been a guarantee for safe products and fair competition. The European Commission is revising the system in order, for example, to introduce uniform minimum requirements for market surveillance authorities and to bring the competences of test agencies into line throughout Europe.
Federal Minister Glos said that the proposal is intended not only to facilitate the free movement of goods but also to increase consumer confidence. “With a total trade volume of EUR 1,500 billion, the regulatory model of the “new approach” covers the bulk of products which are placed on the European market – from coffee-makers to motorboats, from toys to excavators.
Whether it be in Athens or Helsinki, in Warsaw or Lisbon – the CE marking as a “European passport for goods” is designed to ensure that products labelled with it comply with uniform European standards.”
The other part of the Commission’s proposal refers to the products that are not covered by the “new approach” and other non-harmonized products within the EU, such as intermediate industrial products, various kinds of food and packaging, ladders, scaffoldings or bicycles. However, so that these products can be placed on the single market as smoothly as possible, the Commission is proposing a directive on “mutual recognition” to help many years of rulings by the European Court of Justice to take effect in all member states.
Federal Economics Minister Glos: “The aim is to ease legal provisions for companies without a risk of negative effects on the citizens. The Council needs to discuss how we can make it easier for companies to release their products throughout Europe on the one hand, without calling into question the high environmental, labour and consumer protection levels of the member states on the other. The Commission’s proposals seem to be provide some good starting-points for that.”
