Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-02-19-Speech-2-048"
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"en.20080219.5.2-048"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, European consumers expect the products they buy to enjoy better safety protection. All too often we hear on the TV news that such-and-such a product from a country outside the European Union poses a risk to safety or health. This package of measures is an impressive response to such problems, and I should like to highlight the work done by our three rapporteurs during the negotiations, in insisting on the importance of consumer protection.
In the current product-safety climate, new legal instruments are an absolute necessity. I would draw your attention, in particular, to the oral question that is to be asked concerning revision of the rules on use of the CE marking.
The marking has, until now, been seen by European citizens as a sign of confidence and an assurance of safety, whereas it is actually no more than a declaration by the manufacturer that the product complies with European legislation. This means it has too often been affixed willy-nilly and used improperly. We have only to think back to the Mattel toys affair. I am very keen to see a proposal from the Commission for an additional mark that would give the system greater credibility and improve consumer information, with a view to making imported products safer. I have no doubt, however, that Commissioner Kuneva is committed to addressing this matter. She has always indicated her support for improving consumer confidence.
What we need – and what Mrs Schaldemose’s report proposes – is tighter market surveillance to prevent abuses of the marking system and to clarify the responsibilities of importers and manufacturers, because ultimately they alone bear the responsibility for putting on the market products that are safe, and we are well aware that cooperation between national market surveillance authorities and customs services is very uneven.
The overriding priority is to make importers directly liable for the safety of the products they import. Currently it is very hard to take sanctions against them because in some cases, by the time that problems come to light in Europe, manufacturers have closed their factories and disappeared. It is a situation we can no longer accept.
I would like to conclude by thanking Mrs Schaldemose for taking account of the circumstances of small and medium-sized companies in relation to conformity assessment procedures. The challenge is to strike the right balance between procedures that could be burdensome and over-costly for micro-enterprises, including the craft sector, without absolving them from their responsibilities."@en1
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