During a roundtable discussion organized on 20 March 2013 at the European Parliament in Brussels, the European coalition of machinery industry associations, represented by CECE, CECIMO, CEMA, FEM and EUROMAP, called on the European Parliament to fully support and further strengthen the Commission proposal for a new Regulation on Market Surveillance. During the discussions, there was widespread agreement that the legislative package presents a unique opportunity to finally achieve a level playing field in the Single Market and is a landmark initiative to support the EU’s re-industrialization objective.
Whilst generally positive about the proposal, the coalition asked the European Parliament to help make it more ambitious and relevant to the problem of unfair competition that machinery producers are facing on an increasing basis in the Single Market. By ensuring compliance with EU legislation and eliminating unfair competition, more effective market surveillance will help safeguard the long-term competitiveness of the European machinery industry and protect vital public interests in the areas of health and safety, energy efficiency and environmental protection.
The European Commission, represented by Diego Canga Fano, Head of Cabinet of Vice-President Antonio Tajani and Members of the European Parliament Amalia Sartori, Ju?rgen Creutzmann, and Andreas Schwab affirmed that market surveillance is a shared responsibility and requires a high level of cooperation between Member States, the European Commission and industry which has a key consultative role to play. Moreover, it was highlighted that the Commission should assume a stronger role in the coordination of Member States’ market surveillance programmes and the Union administrative cooperation framework. The proposal embeds such principles through a greater use of ICT tools and the creation of the European Market Surveillance Platform – EMSF.
Jan van der Velden, FEM President said: “As good as the EU framework set by the Regulation can and hopefully will be, market surveillance remains the task and competence of Member States. The system will only be fully effective if Member States are ready to commit the necessary human and financial resources.”
“We strongly believe that unlawful traders placing non-compliant products on the markets should bear the cost of the damage they cause.” said Paul Burger (Hitachi Construction Machinery Europe), CECE Trade Policy Commission chairman.
Jarmo Hyvönen, CECIMO Vice-President, stressing the importance of establishing a Union framework for proportionate and deterrent sanctions, stated: “A certain level of approximation between sanctions in Member States should ensure that those who play unfairly are exposed to a similar level of risk on every spot of the Union’s territories.”
Giles Dryancour, CEMA President: “While the proposal presents a solid legal framework to tackle the specific market surveillance challenges for machinery producers, close cooperation between the authorities and manufacturers will be a key element to ensure we can make this legislation work in practice.”
Highlighting the importance of stopping non-compliant imports at the point of entry, Luciano Anceschi, EUROMAP President stated: “The technical capacity and knowledge of customs authorities should be strengthened to carry out first conformity checks on imports. Moreover, it is of utmost important to establish tighter controls on the activities of notified bodies outside Europe.”
FEM
Comments are closed.