Byrne bids to bolster product safety rules

Date: 17/02/2000

By Renée Cordes

CONSUMER Protection Commissioner David Byrne will unveil plans next month for a raft of measures designed to make it easier to keep unsafe products off the EU market and withdraw those already on sale.

Byrne had originally intended to come forward with proposals to amend the Union's eight-year-old general product safety legislation before the end of last year, but the initiative was held up by the heated debate which led to an emergency EU-wide ban on some PVC toys. With that decision out of the way, the Commissioner now hopes to get his blueprint approved by the full College on 14 March.

The 1992 legislation which Byrne wants to update governs any new product placed on the market which is intended for consumers, or is likely to be used by them, and applies to goods which are not covered by other specific pieces of Union legislation. It does not, however, include some second-hand goods, such as those which have been repaired.

"Some of the procedures in the current directive are quite cumbersome," said one Commission official. "We would like to facilitate the decision-making procedures."

Byrne will call for measures to improve cooperation between member states on product safety, bolster the enforcement of national and EU rules, and encourage information exchanges between member states and non-Union countries.

Aides say the Commissioner will also propose abolishing some of the current confidentiality requirements governing products deemed to be potentially dangerous so that consumers can be given more information about possible risks. However, officials emphasise that companies' 'trade secrets' would be respected.

In a move welcomed by European consumer groups, the reform strategy envisages streamlining the system for deciding whether products pose a 'grave and immediate risk' - allowing the Commission to impose an emergency ban.

Commission officials point out that the definition of what this means in the current legislation is unclear and has created a lot of confusion. "We would like to make it easier to apply in all situations," said one.

Joanna Dober, a spokeswoman for EU consumer lobby group BEUC, welcomed Byrne's plans to clarify the Union's product safety rules. But she said the Commission should expand the scope of its proposed reforms to include plans for a EU-wide recall system for dangerous products and to cover services. "National recall systems are not enough," she said. "We need proper mechanisms for cross-border situations."

But industry is urging the Commission to delay revising the rules, arguing that the EU executive should instead put its muscle behind better enforcement of the current legislation. "We do not want a bureaucratic system, but the Commission should focus on how to improve existing rules," said Diane Struyven, of the federation of Belgian companies.

Consumer Protection Commissioner David Byrne is to unveil plans for a raft of measures designed to make it easier to keep unsafe products off the EU market and withdraw those already on sale.