CECIMO fears parts of EU draft Regulation on market surveillance could over-burden businesses
CECIMO fears parts of EU draft Regulation on market surveillance could over-burden businesses
Brussels, 24 August 2018 – CECIMO supports a stronger market surveillance system in the EU. Nevertheless, with the European Parliament vote on the market surveillance Regulation taking place on 3 September, we fear some proposals may lead to additional burdens for manufacturers and even be counterproductive to market surveillance. Effective market surveillance needs closer cooperation between authorities, businesses and other stakeholders such as consumers.
To this end, CECIMO publishes guidelines for CE markings – i.e. for electro-discharge machines and band-sawing machines – and recently released ‘Guidelines for CE marking on metal working milling machines’. The guidelines aim to support market surveillance authorities and economic operators in assessing the conformity of machines with existing European product safety law.
Proposed Regulation on compliance and enforcement
Back in December 2017, the European Commission presented a ‘Goods Package’, including a proposal for a Regulation on compliance and enforcement related to market surveillance. The European Parliament’s Committee for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection is now expected to vote on its draft report for the Regulation on 3 September.
CECIMO has expressed concern over proposals to oblige companies to make the declaration of conformity publicly available on the manufacturer’s website, as well as proposals to create a conformity database. We believe these measures would increase the administrative burden for businesses without providing any real added value. This could lead to a situation where administrative checks are favoured over physical checks, which may even be counterproductive in the fight for the effective enforcement of existing health, safety and environmental requirements.
On the topic, CECIMO Director General Filip Geerts says: “We strongly support the aims of the Regulation to strengthen market surveillance rules, improve coordination at European level and cooperation between market surveillance authorities, customs authorities and other actors such as businesses and consumers”. But Mr Geerts adds: “We should be careful to respect the principle of proportionality and not to add complexity and legal uncertainty in relation to already existing rules on the placing on the market of products”.
CECIMO also believes effective market surveillance requires close cooperation between businesses, relevant national authorities and other stakeholders (e.g. consumers). It calls on the European Parliament to keep the possibility open for authorities to cooperate with business associations and other organisations in relation to market surveillance in a transparent way.
In this context, for several years now CECIMO has been working on a series of Guidelines on specific product groups within the machine tool industry, with the aim of helping market surveillance and customs authorities in their checks. “Strengthening market surveillance in Europe is essential”, explains Mr. Juha Mäkitalo, the Chairman of CECIMO’s Technical Committee: “Both the safety of workers and the competitiveness of the European Machine Tool Industry is undermined by those businesses who do not comply with existing legislation”. He adds that “The Guidelines are a sign of CECIMO members’ commitment to a more effective market surveillance in the Internal Market”.
CECIMO Guidelines for CE marking
The Guidelines are expected to increase awareness among public and private stakeholders about the applicable health and safety requirements, while encouraging responsible purchasing behaviour when buying milling machines. CECIMO Guidelines provide a quick check-list to help with conformity assessments and verify if the machine complies with the legal provisions.
They are a valuable tool for many, and help customs and market surveillance authorities during their checks; machine tool users when purchasing machines; and EU producers and importers can assess the conformity of the goods they trade on the Single Market.
“Machine tools are complex products, usually custom-built, and too large and expensive for lab testing. This means it is sometimes difficult to determine on-site if the product complies with all applicable safety regulations. With the Guidelines, we want to share our sectorial knowledge with the relevant stakeholders and facilitate market surveillance”, explains Mr Mäkitalo.
Why do we need effective market surveillance?
EU legislation lays down the essential requirements products need to conform with, to guarantee a high level of protection for the health and safety of consumers, workers and the environment. The non-enforcement of these regulations creates unfair competition and undermines the competitiveness of economic operators who do comply with the rules. Post-market control, in the form of market surveillance, therefore helps to create a level playing field, which encourages competition centred around high health and safety standards – as opposed to a race to the bottom.
About CECIMO
CECIMO is the European Association representing the common interests of the Machine Tool Industries globally and at EU level. We bring together 15 National Associations of machine tool builders, which represent approximately 1300 industrial enterprises in Europe (EU + EFTA + Turkey), over 80% of which are SMEs. CECIMO covers 97% of total Machine Tool production in Europe and about 33% worldwide. It accounts for almost 136,000 employees and a turnover of more than €26 billion in 2017. Approximately 60% of CECIMO production is shipped abroad, whereas around half of it is exported outside Europe. CECIMO assumes a key role in determining the strategic direction of the European machine tool industry and promotes the development of the sector in the fields of economy, technology and science.
For further media enquiries:
Filip Geerts, Director General
Tel +32 2 502 70 90 / Fax +32 2 502 60 82
filip.geerts@cecimo.eu
Photos available on request