During the last plenary session in Strasbourg, MEPs voted on a new set of rules to reinforce the market surveillance standards for products entering into the single market. The new rules will provide better protection of health and environmental interests alongside with consumers’ safety.

Speaking in the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg MEP Marlene Mizzi said that “when consumers buy new products such as electronics, toys or cosmetics, rightly so, they expect them to be safe. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and often products placed on the market turn out not only to be unsafe, but also damaging and harmful to human health and in some cases even fatal.”

Inspections reveal that non-compliance of inspected products can go up to 90 %. There are indications that the problem affects all sectors and all EU countries. The consequences of unsafe products for EU citizens and businesses are clear. Citizens face risks when buying or working with potentially dangerous goods and businesses face unfair competition from non-compliant businesses.

“Kids, babies or older people - are often the victims of those unsafe products. Only safe products must make their way into the market, no matter if they are sold via traditional means or online channels, and no matter if they are manufactured in the EU or not,” added Marlene Mizzi during her speech in Strasbourg. 

“I welcomed this new piece of legislation that will provide important improvements for the market surveillance of products, for consumers’ safety and for a fairer single market. We need proper market surveillance rules, proper enforcement of the existing rules and proper behaviour from manufacturers and traders to comply with those rules and standards. I think that at the end of this legislature, we have achieved our ultimate goal to provide a European legislation that is able to protect consumers get safer goods, produced by businesses that compete fairly and that are supervised by administrations that cooperate with each other. Our aim is to protect the consumers and this legislation will do just that,” said MEP Mizzi.