General product complianceEU: New General Product Safety Regulation

A proposal for a new General Product Safety Regulation has just been published by the EU Commission.

The regulation would repeal the existing General Product Safety Directive 2001/95/EC and, in contrast to it, apply directly in all member states without transposition into the national law.

The proposed consumer Product Safety Regulation is in line with the new 2020 Consumer Agenda, which aims to:

• Update and modernize the general framework for the safety of non-food consumer products;
• Maintain its role as a safety net for consumers;
• Adapt regulations to the challenges posed by new technologies and online sales; and
• Ensure a level playing field for businesses.

The Regulation would align the market surveillance rules for products that fall outside the scope of EU harmonization legislation (‘non-harmonised products’) with those that apply to products that fall within the scope of EU harmonization legislation (‘harmonized products’), as set out in Regulation (EU) 2019/1020.

The proposal also takes into account provisions of various other recent EU legislations such as: the Cybersecurity Act, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) legislative proposal, the REACH Regulation or the Circular Economy Action Plan.

Since the General Product Safety Regulation has a proposal status, it is not unlikely that its provisions will change in the legislative process.