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Product Safety—A Model for EU Legislation and Reform

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Varieties of European Economic Law and Regulation

Part of the book series: Studies in European Economic Law and Regulation ((SEELR,volume 3))

Abstract

The General Product Safety Directive has been radically amended once and is now subject to a further consultation about reform. This paper argues that the Directive has been refined over the years and an increased emphasis is now being given to enforcement. As well as tracking the principle development it is argued this has been a good model for reform and finally it is contrasted with the lack of activity in the field of product liability.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    H-W Micklitz, T Roethe and S Weatherill (eds), Federalism and Responsibility: A Study on Product Safety Law and Practice in the European Community (London, Graham & Trotman, 1994).

  2. 2.

    Dir 92/59/EEC on general product safety [1992] OJ L 228/24 (General Product Safety Directive 1992). For detailed discussion of the 1992 Directive see G Howells, Consumer Product Safety (Aldershot, Ashgate, 1998) Ch 2.

  3. 3.

    Directive 2001/95/EC on general product safety [2002] OJ L 11/4 (General Product Safety Directive 2001). For consideration of the reforms see D Fairgrieve and G Howells, ‘General Product Safety—a Revolution Through Reform?’ (2006) 69 MLR 59.

  4. 4.

    Proposal for a Regulation on consumer product safety, COM(2013) 78 final.

  5. 5.

    See text at Sect. 25.3.2.

  6. 6.

    See e.g. Commission, ‘EU Consumer Policy Strategy 2007–2013: Empowering consumers, enhancing their welfare, effectively protecting them’, COM(2007) 99 final, which continued the emphasis in the previous strategy to promote better enforcement and redress.

  7. 7.

    For information about COJEF see http://cojef-project.eu.

  8. 8.

    Project guidelines available at www.cojef-project.eu/IMG/pdf/d_CLEFfinalguidelines_76647.pdf.

  9. 9.

    Dir 85/374/EEC concerning liability for defective products [1985] OJ L 210/29.

  10. 10.

    Council Resolution on a new approach to technical harmonisation and standards [1985] OJ C 136/1.

  11. 11.

    Dir 2009/48/EC on the safety of toys.

  12. 12.

    CEN is the European Committee for Standardization; these standards are then reproduced as national standards.

  13. 13.

    [2008] OJ L 218/21.

  14. 14.

    [2008] OJ L 218/30.

  15. 15.

    [2008] OJ L 21/82.

  16. 16.

    General Product Safety Directives, Art 2(b).

  17. 17.

    COM(2013) 78 final (n 4).

  18. 18.

    Proposal for a Regulation on market surveillance of products, COM(2013) 75 final.

  19. 19.

    General Product Safety Directives, Art 2(a).

  20. 20.

    2013 CPS Regulation Proposal, Art 2(1)(c).

  21. 21.

    Available at http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/cons_safe/prod_safe/gpsd/guidance_gpsd_en.pdf.

  22. 22.

    General Product Safety Directive 2001, Art 1(2).

  23. 23.

    General Product Safety Directive 1992, Art 4(2).

  24. 24.

    General Product Safety Directive 2001, Art 3(2).

  25. 25.

    General Product Safety Directive 2001, Art 4.

  26. 26.

    2013 CPS Regulation Proposal, Arts 5(b) and 6(2)(b).

  27. 27.

    [2012] OJ L 316/12.

  28. 28.

    Decision No 768/2008/EC on a common framework for the marketing of products [2008] OJ L 218/82.

  29. 29.

    2013 CPS Regulation Proposal, Art 8(4).

  30. 30.

    2013 CPS Regulation Proposal, Art 14.

  31. 31.

    2013 CPS Regulation Proposal, Art 15.

  32. 32.

    2013 CPS Regulation Proposal, Art 10.

  33. 33.

    2013 CPS Regulation Proposal, Art 3(6).

  34. 34.

    General Product Safety Directive 2001, Art 2(e)(ii).

  35. 35.

    2013 CPS Regulation Proposal, Art 7.

  36. 36.

    See text at Sect. 25.3.6.

  37. 37.

    Fairgrieve and Howells, ‘General Product Safety’.

  38. 38.

    2013 CPS Regulation Proposal, Arts 8(9), 10(7) and 11(5).

  39. 39.

    2013 Market Surveillance Regulation Proposal, Art 10.

  40. 40.

    General Product Safety Directive 2001, Art 8(2).

  41. 41.

    General Product Safety Directive 2001, Art 5(3) and Annex I.

  42. 42.

    Codified at 15 USC §§ 2051–2084.

  43. 43.

    Available at http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/cons_safe/prod_safe/gpsd/notification_dang_en.pdf.

  44. 44.

    2013 CPS Regulation Proposal, Arts 8(9), 10(7) and 11(5).

  45. 45.

    2013 Market Surveillance Regulation Proposal, Art 9(3).

  46. 46.

    2013 CPS Regulation Proposal, Art 13(1).

  47. 47.

    In the General Product Safety Directive 2001 see Arts 11 and 12 and Annex 2.

  48. 48.

    In 2013 of the 2278 notifications 104 were deemed not to present a serious risk and hence distributed under alternative procedure, whereas 236 were distributed for information only as they did not satisfy the criteria for either distribution procedure: European Communities, Keeping Consumers Safe: 2012 Annual Report on the operation of the Rapid Alert System for non-food dangerous products (Luxembourg, Publications office of the European Communities, 2013) 14. The Annual Report is available at http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/safety/rapex/docs/2012_rapex_report_en.pdf.

  49. 49.

    In 2012 five countries accounted for 56 % of all notifications: Hungary (294 notifications, 15 %); Bulgaria (271 notifications, 14 %); Spain (199 notifications, 10 %); Germany (167 notifications, 9 %); and United Kingdom (146 notifications, 8 %): RAPEX 2012 Annual Report, ibid, 15.

  50. 50.

    Commission, ‘More Product Safety and better Market Surveillance in the Single Market for Product’, COM(2013) 74 final.

  51. 51.

    Reg 1907/2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) [2006] OJ L 396/1.

  52. 52.

    [2008] OJ L 218/30.

  53. 53.

    24/2/2011, A7-0033/2011.

  54. 54.

    2013 Market Surveillance Regulation Proposal, Art 8.

  55. 55.

    See text at Sect. 25.3.8.

  56. 56.

    2013 Market Surveillance Regulation Proposal, Arts 19 and 20.

  57. 57.

    2013 Market Surveillance Regulation Proposal, Art 21.

  58. 58.

    2013 Market Surveillance Regulation Proposal, Art 22.

  59. 59.

    2013 Market Surveillance Regulation Proposal, Arts 23–24.

  60. 60.

    2013 Market Surveillance Regulation Proposal, Art 25.

  61. 61.

    2013 Market Surveillance Regulation Proposal, Art 28.

  62. 62.

    2013 Market Surveillance Regulation Proposal, Art 29.

  63. 63.

    Schaldemose, Revision of the General Product Safety Directive (n 53) 12.

  64. 64.

    2013 Market Surveillance Regulation Proposal, Art 4(3).

  65. 65.

    2013 Market Surveillance Regulation Proposal, Art 7.

  66. 66.

    COM(2013) 76 final.

  67. 67.

    2013 Market Surveillance Regulation Proposal, Arts 14–18.

  68. 68.

    For example in 2012 58 % of RAPEX notifications concerned Chinese products: See RAPEX 2012 Annual Report 11.

  69. 69.

    D Fairgrieve, G Howells and M Pilgerstorfer, ‘The Product Liability Directive: Time to Get Soft?’ (2013) 4 Journal of European Tort Law 1.

References

  • Fairgrieve, D and Howells, G, ‘General Product Safety—a Revolution Through Reform?’ (2006) 69 Modern Law Review 59.

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  • Fairgrieve, D, Howells, G and Pilgerstorfer, M, ‘The Product Liability Directive: Time to Get Soft?’ (2013) 4 Journal of European Tort Law 1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howells, G, Consumer Product Safety (Aldershot, Ashgate, 1998).

    Google Scholar 

  • Micklitz, H-W, Roethe T, and Weatherill S (eds), Federalism and Responsibility: A Study on Product Safety Law and Practice in the European Community (London, Graham & Trotman, 1994).

    Google Scholar 

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Peter Cartwright for his comments on an earlier draft. Also many aspects of my knowledge on this topic have benefited from discussions with Duncan Fairgrieve.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law, The University of Manchester, Williamson Building-3.20, M13 9PL, Manchester, UK

    Geraint Howells

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Correspondence to Geraint Howells .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Law and Governance Group, Faculty of Law, Wageningen University, Erasmus University of Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Kai Purnhagen

  2. Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Peter Rott

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Howells, G. (2014). Product Safety—A Model for EU Legislation and Reform. In: Purnhagen, K., Rott, P. (eds) Varieties of European Economic Law and Regulation. Studies in European Economic Law and Regulation, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04903-8_25

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