EEA EFTA Comment on the proposal for a Regulation on general product safety

On 11 April 2022, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway submitted a joint EEA EFTA Comment on the proposal for a Regulation on general product safety.

The European Commission adopted on 30 June 2021, a proposal for a new general product safety regulation, with a view to improving the safety of non-food consumer products sold offline and online on the internal market. The proposal aims to replace the current General Product Safety Directive adopted in 2001 which has become outdated. The proposed regulation addresses product safety challenges, including new technology products. It also enhances market surveillance of dangerous products in the EU and makes their recalls more effective.

The EEA EFTA States welcome the Commission proposal and support its overall objective. EU product legislation is a substantial part of the EEA Agreement.

To meet the challenges arising out of the increasing number of products sold online, the EEA EFTA States fully support that online marketplaces should have increased responsibilities as regards consumer protection.

Based on many years of positive experience with imposing internal control processes upon economic operators, the EEA EFTA States welcome the introduction of internal control processes for product safety at EU level.

Furthermore, the EEA EFTA States welcome rules which entail more obligations on product recalls and standardised recall notices and propose that traders should be obliged to always publish recall notices.

Read the full text of the EEA EFTA Comment here. 

A full list of EEA EFTA Comments is available here.