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

Summary of the initiative

Objective(s)
The Directive 2001/95/EC aims to: Develop European standards on product safety; Define how to assess safety in the absence of European standards, including codes of good practices. ("With regard to the aims of this Directive (i. e. product safety), European standards should be established by European standardisation bodies, under mandates set by the Commission assisted by appropriate Committees. In order to ensure that products in compliance with the standards fulfil the general safety requirement, the Commission assisted by a committee composed of representatives of the Member States, should fix the requirements that the standards must meet. These requirements should be included in the mandates to the standardisation bodies. In the absence of specific regulations and when the European standards established under mandates set by the Commission are not available or recourse is not made to such standards, the safety of products should be assessed taking into account in particular national standards transposing any other relevant European or international standards, Commission recommendations or national standards, international standards, codes of good practice, the state of the art and the safety which consumers may reasonably expect. Appropriate independent certification recognised by the competent authorities may facilitate proof of compliance with the applicable product safety criteria.")

Description of the Initiative

    Sector

    Sector

    Contact Point - Commission
    JUST E3

    Self/Co-Regulation Basic Act

    LEGISLATIVE ACT
    Year
    2001
    Title of Act
    Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 December 2001 on general product safety, Official Journal L 11, 15.1.2002, p. 4-17;

    Geographical Coverage

    Global coverage
    Participating Countries
    Austria

    Description

    Problems that lead to the introduction of Self/Co-Regulation and the adoption of the Founding Act
    Barriers to trade and distortion of competition within the internal market linked to national legislation on product safety; Dangers for consumers induced by unsafe products.
    Target Group(s)
    Producers of goods;
    Type of Instrument(s)
    Standards, codes of conduct, etc.
    Level(s) at which private rules should be defined and applied
    Type of Financing
    -
    Type of Monitoring
    Conduct an initial survey of compliance capacity of future regulateesConduct regular visits and spot checksInitiate complaints proceduresMaintain database of those bounded by the normsProduce regular reportsReceive complaints and verify if norms were breached or notReflexive dialogue with the - stakeholdersOther
    European Commission
    National public authority
    International public authority
    Private regulator (code owner)
    Private independent party with a mandate (e.g. auditors)
    Self-appointed private parties (e.g. NGOs)
    Succinct description of the type of Monitoring
    The Commission will report every three years to the European Parliament and the Council on its programmes for setting the requirements and the mandates for standardisation.
    Type of Enforcement
    Faming, shaming and blamingJudicial sanctionsMembership suspension/exclusionPrivate finesOther
    Private Regulator
    Private independent party with a mandate (e.g. auditors)
    Court system
    Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) / Online dispute resolution (ODR)
    Succinct description of the type of Enforcement
    Member States are obliged to enforce the requirements on producers and distributors. They must appoint the authorities in charge of market surveillance and enforcement as well as monitor, intervene and impose penalties.

    Results of Commission Monitoring

    Year of last Monitoring Results
    2009
    Scoring
    Link / Reference of Evaluation
    Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 December 2001 on general product safety (January 2009 - http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/archive/safety/prod_legis/docs/report_impl_gpsd_en.pdf)
    Monitoring periodicity / next evaluation
    Every 3 years