1993R0339 — EN — 17.03.1993 — 000.001 — 1
This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents
►B COUNCILREGULATION(EEC)No339/93
of8February1993
on checks for conformity with the rules on product safety in the case of products imported from
thirdcountries
(OJ L 40, 17.2.1993, p. 1)
Corrected by:
►C1Corrigendum, OJ L 92, 16.4.1993, p. 51 (339/93)
▼B
COUNCILREGULATION(EEC)No339/93
of8February1993
on checks for conformity with the rules on product safety in the
caseofproductsimportedfromthirdcountries
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community, and in particular Article 113 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission(1),
Whereas products may not be placed on the Community market unless
they conform to the rules applicable; whereas Member States are thusresponsible for carrying out checks on their conformity;
Whereas, in view of the abolition of controls at the Community's
internal frontiers in accordance with Article 8a of the Treaty, Member
States should, when carrying out controls at external frontiers, act inaccordance with comparable detailed rules in order to avoid any distor-tion which might adversely affect safety and health;
Whereas, with due regard for the powers of, and the means available
to, the national administrations concerned, the customs authorities
must, in the case of products from third countries, be closely involvedin the market-monitoring operations and information systems providedfor under Community and national rules;
Whereas, in particular, if the customs authorities find, when carrying
out checks in connection with releases for free circulation, that goods
display certain characteristics which would give rise to a serious doubtas to the existence of a serious and immediate risk to health and safety,these authorities must be in a position to suspend the release of thosegoods and to inform the national authorities responsible for monitoringthe market so that the latter may take suitable action;
Whereas the same should apply when, in the same circumstances, the
customs authorities find that a document which should accompany theproducts is missing and/or products are not market as specified in theCommunity or national rules on product safety in force in the MemberState where release of the products for free circulation is sought;
Whereas, in the interests of effectiveness and coordination, Member
States must designate the national authority or authorities responsiblefor monitoring the market which must be notified by the customsauthorities in the cases referred to above;
Whereas, when thus notified, the authority responsible must be in a
position to verify that the products concerned comply with the Commu-
nity or national rules on product safety;
Whereas, however, such authority must act within a sufficiently short
period in the light of the serious doubt referred to above and the inter-national commitments entered into by the Community, in particularwith regard to checks on conformity with technical standards;
Whereas, therefore, unless the national authorities responsible for
monitoring the market take action, including the adoption of interimprotective measures, within that same period, the release of theproducts in question for free circulation must be authorized providedthat all the other import formalities have been completed;
Whereas, however, this Regulation should, in the interests of consis-
tency, apply only in so far as Community rules on health and safetydo not contain specific provisions relating to the organization of bordercontrols on specific products;
Whereas such controls should comply, on the one hand, with the prin-
ciple of proportionality and thus be strictly in keeping with1993R0339 — EN — 17.03.1993 — 000.001 — 2
(1) OJ No C 329, 15. 12. 1992, p. 3.
▼B
requirements and, on the other, with the obligations set out in the Inter-
national Convention on the Harmonization of Frontier Controls ofGoods, which was approved on behalf of the Community by virtue of
Council Regulation (EEC) No 1262/84(
1);
Whereas, in order to ensure a high level of safety in respect of import
operations, the Commission and each Member State should seek to
ensure the transparency of the measures taken to implement this Regu-lation, while all the Member States should provide each other with thenecessary assistance;
Whereas, in particular, the customs authorities must be provided with
information, suitable to the exercise of their duties, gained from knowl-edge of, on the one hand, the products or product categories which are
more specifically concerned and, on the other, the marking of the
products and the documents accompanying them;
Whereas the implementation of this Regulation must be monitored so
that adjustments can, where necessary, be made in the interests ofeffectiveness;
Whereas this Regulation forms an integral part of the common
commercial policy; whereas it is limited to what is required for thesmooth operation of the checks carried out on products imported fromthird countries to ensure their conformity with the rules on productsafety applicable on the Community market;
Whereas such controls should comply with obligations incumbent upon
the Community under GATT to conduct trade on a non-discriminatory
basis and under the GATT Code on Technical Barriers to Trade,
according to which standards should not be applied as a means ofcreating obstacles to international trade,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
For the purposes of this Regulation:
— ‘national authority responsible for monitoring the market’ shall
mean the national authority or authorities designated by the
Member States and required by them to check the conformity ofproducts placed on the Community or national market with theCommunity or national legislation applicable,
— ‘accompanying document’ shall mean any document which must
physically accompany a product when it is placed on the market,in accordance with the Community or national legislation in force,
— ‘marking’ shall mean any marking or labelling which products must
bear in accordance with the Community or national legislation inforce and which certifies that the product conforms with that legis-lation;
— ‘customs authorities’ shall mean the authorities responsible for,
inter alia , the application of customs legislation.
Article 2
When, in the context of checks which they carry out in respect of
goods declared for release for free circulation, the customs authorities
find:
— that a product or batch of products displays certain characteristics
which would give rise to a serious ►
C1doubt giving cause to
believe in the existence ◄of a serious and immediate risk to
health or safety in the event of that product's being used under
normal and foreseeable conditions, and/or
— that a product or batch of products is not accompanied by a docu-
ment or not market in accordance with the Community or national1993R0339 — EN — 17.03.1993 — 000.001 — 3
(1) OJ No L 126, 12. 5. 1984, p. 1.
▼B
rules on product safety applicable in the Member State in which
release for free circulation is sought,
they shall suspend release of the product or batch of products
concerned and immediately notify the national authority responsiblefor monitoring the market.
Article 3
Each Member State shall inform the Commission, which shall inform
the other Member States accordingly, of the national authority or
authorities responsible for monitoring the market which it has desig-nated as having to be informed whenever Article 2 is applied.
Article 4
1. The national authority responsible for monitoring the market shall
be in a position to act in respect of any product the release of which
has been suspended by the customs authorities pursuant to Article 2.
In the absence of such action, the second paragraph of Article 5 shallapply.
2. In the case of perishable goods, the national authorities respon-
sible for monitoring the market and the customs authorities shall, as
far as possible, seek to ensure that any requirements they may impose
with regard to the storage of the goods or the parking of the vehiclesused for transport are not incompatible with the preservation of thosegoods.
Article 5
Where, after intervening in accordance with Article 4, the national
authorities responsible for monitoring the market consider that theproduct in question does not present a serious and immediate risk tohealth and safety and/or cannot be regarded as being in breach ofCommunity or national laws on product safety, the product in questionshall be released for free circulation provided that all the other require-
ments and formalities pertaining to such release have been met.
This shall also apply if, within three working days of the suspension of
release, the customs authorities, having applied Article 2, have notbeen notified of any action, including precautionary measures, takenby the national authorities responsible for monitoring the market.
Article 6
1. Where the national authorities responsible for monitoring the
market find that the product in question presents a serious andimmediate risk, they shall, in accordance with the Community ornational rules applicable, take measures to prohibit the product from
being placed on the market and ask the customs authorities to include
one of the following endorsements on the commercial invoice accom-panying the product and on any other relevant accompanyingdocument:
— ‘Producto peligroso — no se autoriza su despacho a libre práctica
— Reglamento (CEE) n
o339/93’,
— ‘Farligt produkt — overgang til fri omsætning ikke tilladt —
forordning (EØF) nr. 339/93’,
— ‘Gefährliches Erzeugnis — Überführung in den zollrechtlich freien
Verkehr nicht gestattet — Verordnung (EWG) Nr. 339/93’,
—‘Επικίνδυνο προϊόν —∆εν επιτρέπεται η ελεύθερη κυκλο-
φορία—Κανονισµός (ΕΟΚ) αριθ. 339 /93’,
— ‘Dangerous product — release for free circulation not authorized —
Regulation (EEC) No 339/93’,
— ‘Produit dangereux — mise en libre pratique non autorisée —
règlement (CEE) no339/93’,
— ‘Prodotto pericoloso — immissione in libera pratica non autorizzata
— regolamento (CEE) n. 339/93’,1993R0339 — EN — 17.03.1993 — 000.001 — 4
▼B
— ‘Gevaarlijk produkt — het in het vrije verkeer brengen ervan niet
toegestaan — Verordening (EEG) nr. 339/93’,
— ‘Produto perigoso — colocação em livre prática não permitida —
Regulamento (CEE) no339/93’.
2. Where the national authorities responsible for monitoring the
market find that the product in question does not comply with the
Community or national rules in force on product safety, they shalltake appropriate action which may, if necessary, include prohibitingthe product from being placed on the market in accordance with thesaid rules; in cases where placing on the market is prohibited, theyshall ask the customs authorities to include one of the following endor-
sements on the commercial invoice accompanying the product and on
any other relevant accompanying document:
— ‘Producto no conforme — no se autoriza su despacho a libre
práctica — Reglamento (CEE) n
o339/93’,
— ‘Ikke overensstemmende produkt — overgang til fri omsætning
ikke tilladt — forordning (EØF) nr. 339/93’,
— ‘Nichtkonformes Erzeugnis — Überführung in den zollrechtlich
freien Verkehr nicht gestattet — Verordnung (EWG) Nr. 339/93’,
—‘Ακατάλληλο προϊόν —∆εν επιτρέπεται η ελεύθερη κυκλο-
φορία—Κανονισµός (ΕΟΚ) αριθ. 339 /93’,
— ‘Product not in conformity — release for free circulation not
authorized — Regulation (EEC) No 339/93’,
— ‘Produit non conforme — mise en libre pratique non autorisée —
règlement (CEE) no339/93’,
— ‘Prodotto non conforme — immissione in libera pratica non auto-
rizzata — regolamento (CEE) n. 339/93’,
— ‘Niet-conform produkt — het in het vrije verkeer brengen ervan
niet toegestaan — Verordening (EEG) nr. 339/93’,
— ‘Produto não conforme — colocação em livre prática não permitida
— Regulamento (CEE) no339/93’.
3. For the purposes of implementing this Regulation, the provisions
of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1468/81 of 19 May 1981 on mutualassistance between the administrative authorities of the Member Statesand cooperation between the latter and the Commission to ensure thecorrect application of the law on customs or agricultural matters(
1)
shall apply mutatis mutandis .
4. Where the product in question is subsequently declared for a
customs destination other than release for free circulation and provided
the national authorities responsible for monitoring the market do notobject, the endorsements listed in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall also beincluded, under the same conditions, on the documents used in connec-tion with that destination.
Article 7
This Regulation shall apply only in so far as Community rules do not
contain specific provisions relating to the organization of border
controls on specific products.
This Regulation shall in any event not apply in the cases covered by
Community rules relating to plant-health, veterinary and zootechnicalcontrols and to animal protection.
Article 8
Within three months of the entry into force of this Regulation and for
the purposes of its implementation, a list of the products or productcategories which, in the context of Community rules, are more specifi-
cally covered by the second indent of Article 2 shall be drawn upin
accordance with the procedure specified in Article 9; the list shall bedrawn up on the basis of experience and/or of the rules on product1993R0339 — EN — 17.03.1993 — 000.001 — 5
(1) OJ No L 144, 2. 6. 1981, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EEC)
No 945/87 (OJ No L 90, 2. 4. 1987, p. 3).
▼B
safety. In accordance with the same procedure, that list shall be
revised, as and when necessary, in order to adapt it to the new situa-tions resulting from the experience and development of the rules on
product safety.
Article 9
1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee composed of
the representatives of the Member States and chaired by the representa-tive of the Commission.
2. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the
committee the draft measures drawing up— or amending — a list ofthe products or product categories which are more particularly coveredby the second indent of Article 2. The committee shall deliver itsopinion on the draft within a time limit which the chairman may laydown according to the urgency of the measures to be taken. The
opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in Article 148
(2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions which the Council is requiredto adopt on a proposal from the Commission. The votes of the repre-sentatives of the Member States within the committee shall beweighted in the manner set out in that Article. The chairman shall not
vote.
3. (a) The Commission shall adopt measures which shall apply imme-
diately.
(b) However, if the measures envisaged are not in accordance with
the opinion of the committee, they shall be communicated by
the Commission to the Council forthwith. In that event:
— the Commission shall defer application of the measures
which it has decided for a period of not more than threemonths from the date of such communication,
— The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a
different decision within the time limit referred to in the first
indent.
Article 10
Each Member State shall transmit to the Commission the characteris-
tics of markings and accompanying documents as referred to inArticle 1 and required under Community rules or under its own rules,together with the reasons for the instructions given to the customsauthorities with a view to applying the second indent of Article 2.The Commission shall forthwith forward to the other Member States
the information it has received. Such characteristics shall first be
communicated within two months of the entry into force of this Regu-lation.
Article 11
1. If, for the purposes of applying this Regulation, a Member State
decides that specialized customs-clearance points need to be designatedfor checks on certain goods, it shall notify the Commission and theother Member States accordingly; the Commission shall keepupto
date and publish a list of specialized customs-clearance points.
2. The constraints resulting from the obligation under paragraph 1 to
pass through a specialized customs-clearance point must not be dispro-
portionate, as far as economic operators are concerned, to the objective
in question, having due regard to the actual circumstances which mayjustify that obligation.
Article 12
Each Member State shall, within two months of the entry into force of
this Regulation, notify the Commission of the provisions it has adoptedwith a view to its implementation. The Commission shall communicatethose provisions to the other Member States.1993R0339 — EN — 17.03.1993 — 000.001 — 6
▼B
Article 13
Within two years of the entry into force of this Regulation, the
Commission shall report to the European Parliament and the Council
on its application and shall propose any change which it feels is appro-
priate. Member States shall, for the purpose of drawing up that report,provide the Commission with all relevant information relating to theway in which they apply the Regulation, in particular as regards thestatistics relating to the application of Article 6.
Article 14
This Regulation shall enter into force one month after its publication in
theOfficial Journal of the European Communities .
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable
in all Member States.1993R0339 — EN — 17.03.1993 — 000.001 — 7