EuroCommerce has welcomed the conclusion of trilogue negotiations between the Council, European Commission and Parliament on the Compliance and Enforcement Regulation, which will seek to tackle 'dangerous imports' from getting into the hands of European consumers.
“In recent years, and particularly with the explosive growth of shipments by Chinese online sellers, bona-fide EU traders have been faced with competition from unscrupulous non EU-manufacturers and traders selling dangerous products straight to EU customers by passing controls by market surveillance authorities," commented Christian Verschueren, EuroCommerce director general.
"The agreement reached will allow the authorities to enforce the regulations in relation to such products by having a responsible person in the EU with whom to deal."
Positive Signal
EuroCommerce said that the regulation will help prevent 'serious harm' to consumers, and will send a 'strong and positive signal' to support traders efforts to bring safe products to the market.
"Rogue manufacturers and traders do not have a place in the EU market and dangerous products even less so," Verschueren added.
"We have been waiting for this step for a long time, allowing effective market surveillance to protect consumers. It removes a major distortion of the market for EU retailers and wholesalers who apply the rules, and yet have seen dangerous products, sold online and imported direct by individual consumers, passing under the radar."
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
