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Latest News
- Internal market
RAPEX
Directive
2001/95 on General Product Safety establishes a Community alert system,
the RAPEX, between Member States and the Commission on measures and
actions adopted in relation to products presenting a serious risk for
consumers. The Commission is charged to establish guidelines to ensure
the effectiveness and the proper functioning of the system. The
Commission’s Decision of 16 December 2009 laying down guidelines
for the management of RAPEX and of the notification procedure (Article
11 Directive 2001/95) was published in the OJEU on 26 January 2010. It
replaces Decision 2004/418.
New Legislative Framework
One
of the Regulations of the New Legislative Framework, Regulation
765/2008 setting out requirements for accreditation and market
surveillance relating to the marketing of products, applies as of 1
January 2010. It aims to complement the existing legislative tools by
providing a framework regarding the accreditation of conformity
assessment bodies; the market surveillance of products; the controls on
products from third countries entering the Community market and the CE
marking. It therefore covers products which are the object of
harmonisation at EU level, even if Member States can impose additional
technical conditions on the placing of a product on their market.
New Machinery Directive
The former Machinery Directive has now been repealed, since the new
Machinery Directive 2006/42 applies as of 29 December 2009. The revised
Machinery Directive does not introduce radical changes compared to the
former one but rather aims at consolidating the achievements of the
Machinery Directive as regards free circulation and safety of machinery
and improving its application.
Ozone Regulation
The new Ozone Regulation (Regulation 1005/2009 of 16 September 2009 on
substances that deplete the ozone layer) applies as of 1 January 2010
and repeals Regulation 2037/2000. It aims at implementing the Montreal
Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer as last amended and
adjusted. It lays down rules on the production, import, export, placing
on the market, use, recovery, recycling, reclamation and destruction of
substances that deplete the ozone layer, on the reporting of
information related to those substances and on the import, export,
placing on the market and use of products and equipment containing or
relying on those substances. The principle is that such substances are
banned, with a few exceptions that allow them.
- Consumer's protection
Case
C-511/08, Verbraucherzentrale Nordrhein-Westfalen eV v Heinrich Heine
GmbH, Opinion of Advocate General delivered on 28 January 2010
The advocate general delivered an opinion in
reference to a preliminary ruling regarding the interpretation of
Article 6 of Directive 97/7 on the protection of consumers in respect
to distance contracts. According to this Article, the only charge that
must be supported by the consumer if he exercises his right of
withdrawal is the direct costs of returning the goods. The question was
to know whether such charge includes the costs of delivering the goods
or if such a charge must be borne by the supplier. The advocate general
proves to be very protective of the consumer since he interprets the
Article as precluding that the costs of delivering the goods must not
be charged to the consumers when he exercises his right of withdrawal
in distance contracts.
- International trade
Free Trade Agreements
On the 22nd of December, Member States allowed the European Commission
to pursue negotiations towards free trade agreements (FTAs) with
individual countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The
first step will be to begin negotiations with Singapore early in 2010,
which is the EU’s most important trading partner within the ASEAN
countries. ASEAN is the third largest trade partner of the EU outside
Europe. The aim of these agreements is to lower or abolish the existing
tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and investments in order to
strengthen the EU’s commercial ties with the dynamic ASEAN
region. The ultimate objective remains to reach an agreement with the
ASEAN region.
Complaint against the EU in the WTO
The Council adopted on 22 December 2009 a regulation extending, by a
further period of 15 months, the anti-dumping duty on imports into the
EU of footwear with leather uppers originating in China and Vietnam
(Regulation 16851/09). Definitive anti-dumping duties ranging from 9,7
% to 16,5 % in the case of China and 10 % in the case of Vietnam, were
first imposed in October 2006 following a Commission investigation
confirming the existence of dumping and injury to Community producers.
The measures were supposed to expire on 7 October 2008 but a request
for review was initiated. Following this decision, China decided to
file a World Trade Organisation complaint against the EU on 4 February
2010. China requested consultation with the EU in order to try to
resolve the matter. In the case that no agreement is reached within 60
days, China will request a ruling from the WTO.
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