Justice, consumers and gender equality

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Consumer product safety – General Product Safety Directive

Overall state of play:

• Evaluation: Evaluation of Directive 2001/95/EC and the Council Directive 87/587/EEC has been completed in 2021 back to back with the impact assessment; SWD(2021)168
• Commission proposal: On 30 June 2021, the Commission adopted a proposal for a new General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), amending Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 and repealing Directive 87/357/EEC and Directive 2001/95/EC (COM(2021) 346 final). NB: Commission proposal: COM (2013)78 was withdrawn on 29.09.2020.
• Legal act: Pending in legislative procedure;

State of play, main conclusions, outlook

The Commission proposal aims to update and modernise the product safety rules applicable to (non-food) consumer products currently laid down in the General Product Safety Directive (GPSD) 2001/95/EC and the Council Directive 87/587/EEC on food-imitating products.

The main policy objective of the Commission’s proposal is to ensure the safety of non-food consumer products on the EU market, while ensuring a level playing field for businesses.

Estimated savings and benefits

The Commission’s proposal is expected to lead to major benefits for consumers and society. The estimated consumer detriment should decrease by approximately EUR 1.0 billion in the first year of implementation of the preferred option and by approximately EUR 5.5 billion over the next decade. The proposal should also reduce consumer detriment related to ineffective recalls by more than EUR 400 million per year. Moreover, by reducing the number of unsafe products, the proposed measures should also reduce the current detriment suffered by EU consumers and society due to preventable product-related accidents (estimated today at EUR 11.5 billion per year) and the current cost of healthcare for product-related injuries (current estimate EUR 6.7 billion per year). The precise impact could not been quantified due to lack of injury data to estimate trends. Estimated cost savings caused by reducing the differences in national implementation and legal fragmentation are estimated at EUR 59 million annually for businesses and EUR 0.7 million per year for market surveillance authorities.

Total costs of the proposal for businesses in the EU (active in manufacturing, wholesale and retail of non-harmonised products) are estimated at EUR 196.6 million, equivalent to 0.02% of their turnover in the first year of implementation. In the following years, the recurrent costs would amount to EUR 177.8 million for EU businesses. These costs are linked to the increased obligations for businesses mainly for online sales, sales of new technology products and recalls of unsafe products, and to the alignment of market surveillance rules with those for harmonised products. Market surveillance authorities in Member States would face total additional recurrent costs under this proposal of approximatively EUR 6.7 million annually due to their increased powers in the market surveillance of unsafe products, and only relatively moderate one-off adaptation and implementation costs.

State of Play:

Finalised; The revision has been based on an evaluation of the General Product Safety Directive (GPSD), back-to-back to an impact assessment (SWD(2021)168).

Scope:

Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 December 2001 on general product safety and the Council Directive 87/587/EEC

Evaluation findings:

The evaluation assessed whether the GPSD is fit for purpose and fulfils its objective of ensuring safety of non-food consumer products. The evaluation took into account the period from the Directive’s adoption until today and cover all Member States and EEA countries. The evaluation also covered the Directive on food imitating products.

The GPSD evaluation of the GPSD confirmed the role of the Directive as a cornerstone of consumer safety and the functioning of the Single Market.

However, this evaluation identified a series of areas for improvement. The relevance and effectiveness of the Directive have been impacted by the growth of e-commerce. The rapid development of new technologies is also questioning the relevance of some of the key concepts of the Directive. The evaluation has showed a need to ensure that the Directive remains as the safety net for all consumer products, including those incorporating new technologies. The evaluation has identified problems regarding the coherence of the EU legal framework and the existence of two different sets of rules on market surveillance for harmonised and non-harmonised products. This has also clear implications for the effectiveness and efficiency of the Directive. It is also apparent from the evaluation that it would be necessary to fine-tune some of the provisions to improve the effectiveness of the Directive. In particular, legislative changes or further actions are needed to improve the effectiveness of product recalls. There is a need for mechanism to arbitrate disputes between Member States regarding risk assessments. The traceability system under the Directive and the resources constraints of market surveillance authorities are challenges that make it difficult to effectively control the safety of products, and consequently need to be tackled to ensure a proper protection of consumers and functioning of the Single Market. Provisions of the Directive 87/357/EEC on food-imitating products are currently not enforced in a harmonised manner among Member States.

The evaluation's findings informed the GPSD impact assessment of the policy options. Both the evaluation and the impact assessment took into account the existing extensive data analysis collected for earlier studies, in expert group meetings and workshops, as well as an underlying impact assessment study.

Finally, a report has also be prepared on the implementation of the General Product Safety Directive, as foreseen in its Article 19 and adopted as part of the package.

State of Play:

Adopted: (COM(2021) 346 final), on 30 June 2021.

Which objectives did the Commission pursue?

The Commission proposal aims to achieve the following objectives:

• ensure that the EU legal framework provides for general safety rules for all consumer products and risks, including products and risks linked to new technologies;

• address product safety challenges in the online sales channels;

• make product recalls more effective and efficient to keep unsafe products away from consumers;

• enhance market surveillance and ensure better alignment of rules for harmonised and non-harmonised consumer products;

• address safety issues related to food imitating products.

State of Play:

Pending in legislative procedure.
Provisional political agreement by co-legislators on the new General Product Safety Regulation reached on 28 November 2022.

Some recent instruments adopted

• Notice on the market surveillance of products sold online (2017/C 250/01)

The Commission notice on the market surveillance of products sold online has been adopted by the Commission on 28 July 2017. The objective of the Notice is to assist Member State authorities in the enforcement of EU legislation on the safety and compliance of non-food products sold online. The document refers to tangible goods and excludes non-embedded software and applications. The Notice concerns the application of the General Product Safety Directive and of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 in online sales. The Notice also sets out good practices for the market surveillance of products sold online and for communication with businesses and consumers.

• Decision 9 November 2018 laying down guidelines for the management of the Union Rapid Information System (RAPEX)

On 9 November 2018, the Commission has adopted the guidelines for the functioning of RAPEX (now ‘Safety Gate/RAPEX’). According to Annex II, point 8 of Directive 2001/95/EC on general product safety, the Commission regularly updates such guidelines. The previous version of the guidelines dated back to 2010. The new version of the guidelines updates the scope and purpose of RAPEX, integrates certain aspects of Regulation (EC) 765/2008 on market surveillance of harmonised products (inclusion of professional products and extension of the risks to risks other than those for the health and safety of consumers (e.g. environmental risks), includes a reference to new tools developed over the last years for the proper functioning of RAPEX, clarifies RAPEX notification criteria and enhances traceability, which is essential for follow up by countries in the RAPEX network.

• Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 of 20 June 2019 on market surveillance and compliance of products

On 20 June 2016, the Council and the European Parliament have adopted a new Regulation on market surveillance and compliance of products (Regulation (EU) 2019/1020), which modifies the legal framework for market surveillance of harmonised products. This Regulation amends Regulation 765/2008 setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products.