Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-02-19-Speech-2-017"
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"en.20080219.5.2-017"2
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".
Madam President, President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, the Committee on International Trade is fully satisfied with the content of Mr Brie’s report. He and his fellow members of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection have done a very good job and have set out a balanced position on this complex but important issue.
At first sight, the effects of this Regulation on external trade are minimal. I do believe, however, that an increasingly close link is developing between the internal market and external trade. The opportunities and risks arising from the growing openness of our market must be carefully assessed and addressed. The European Union has a major role to play in guaranteeing the proper functioning of the internal market, and it must not allow this to be jeopardised by players outside or inside the Community.
I am delighted that the lead committee has accepted the proposals made by the Committee on International Trade regarding the restriction of market access for products with false or misleading CE marks, for this will make it easier to ensure that information given to consumers is reliable and transparent as well as creating broader scope for action against abusive practices that infringe national and EU legislation.
At this point I would like to emphasise that greater attention must be paid to surveillance of products from non-EU countries. This is not a matter of protectionism; the fact is that, even though rules are in place, they are infringed far more often in countries where inspection practice is less rigorous than in the European Union. This is another means by which we must ensure that no advantages are accorded to manufacturers who, besides possibly being located in countries outside the EU to profit from low production costs, also try to save money by circumventing technical and legal requirements imposed by the EU to safeguard its citizens.
By the way, some of the perceived benefits of locating in low-cost countries may be appealing in business terms, but such locations have an extremely harmful environmental impact and are totally unacceptable from a social perspective. Returning to the report, another gratifying aspect is the fact that the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection has adopted the motion tabled by the Committee on International Trade regarding the availability of stiffer penalties in the event of repeated infringements.
We are also very happy with Mrs Schaldemose’s report. It certainly reflects the spirit, if not always the letter, of the amendments tabled by the Committee on International Trade. It is worth emphasising that this new proposal provides for the same distribution of burdens for all market players involved in trade, whether they be producers, importers or merchants. Another important element is that importers of products from countries outside the EU are required to ensure that the goods in question satisfy the applicable Community requirements.
Underlying our amendments was the desire to ensure that importers, together with foreign producers, bore responsibility for all loss or injury resulting from products that were dangerous or infringed the rules. The purpose of this proposal is to make importers check more carefully whether manufacturers are honouring their legal obligations; we intend to do this by signalling that placing goods on the internal market without thorough checking can be an expensive error. This will not only contribute to fair competition in the European Union but will also reduce the incentive to relocate production facilities in non-EU countries where the laws and regulations are less strict than they are here.
I also support the recommendation made in the report that Member States be made responsible for establishing a robust, efficient and responsive system of market surveillance in their respective territories and that they be required to make available an adequate pool of skills and resources for that purpose. Proper enforcement of the proposed provisions is imperative if we want our market rules to be correctly applied and European consumers to be protected from products that are dangerous or infringe Community law."@en1
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