COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION of the New Legislative Framework
Date: 2022-11-16
Institutions: Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Commission
Subjects: EC conformity marking, free movement of goods, harmonisation of standards, industrial product, market supervision, marketing standard, product safety, single market

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 11.11.2022  SWD(2022) 365 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EVALUATION  of the New Legislative Framework {SWD(2022) 364 final}  
 
 
The  New  Legislative  Framework  (hereafter  NLF)  for  EU  product  legislation  consists  of 
Decision No 768/2008/EC1 and Regulation (EC) No 765/20082 aiming to improve the Internal 
Market for goods and boost the quality of conformity assessment of products.  

Decision  No  768/2008/EC  contains  a  template  and  a  common  toolbox  for  Union  product 
legislation.  Currently,  there  are  23  pieces  of  legislation  and  a  delegated  act  aligned  to  the 
NLF. 

Regulation (EC) No 765/08 established an overall framework of rules and principles related to 
accreditation,  market  surveillance,  conformity  assessment  and  the CE  marking.  The  market 
surveillance  provisions  of  this  Regulation  were  replaced  by  Regulation  2019/1020,  which 
started to apply on 16 July 2021.  

Since its adoption, industry and products have transformed radically, in particular due to the 
digital  and  the  circular  economy  aspects.  This  evaluation  reassesses  whether  the  NLF 
continues to be fit for purpose in the current economic reality and the conformity assessment 
procedures still ensure that products placed on the Union market are safe and compliant with 
the  applicable  legislation.  In  addition,  it  is  necessary  to  assess  whether  the  NLF  is  also 
sufficiently able to cope with an increasing demand for integration of environmental aspects 
into product legislation. 

The main purpose of this evaluation is to bring forward an informed analysis of the current 
performance of the NLF, assessing the effectiveness, efficiency and its relevance in particular 
given the technological development, the coherence with similar initiatives and the overall EU 
added value of certain aspects of the NLF.  

The evaluation made full use of the Study that was carried out for the European Commission 
–  DG  GROW  by  the  Centre  for  Strategy  &  Evaluation  Services  (CSES),  supported  by  the 
Centre for Industrial Studies (CSIL). It is also supported by consultations (both targeted and 
public  consultations);  direct  interactions  with  stakeholders  (via  interviews  and  a  validation 
stakeholder  workshop)  and  case  studies.  Other  sources  have  contributed  to  the  assessment, 
such as the Opinion of the Fit for Future Platform (F4F), a high-level expert group that helps 
the Commission in its efforts to simplify EU laws and to reduce unnecessary costs. 

The general objectives set out in the Impact Assessment of 2007 of the NLF are to ensure a 
high level of protection of public interests and the free movement of goods throughout the EU 
within a flexible and innovation-friendly legal framework. 

In  this  evaluation  we  assessed  the  performance  of  the  NLF  taking  into  account  its  specific 
objectives,  which  are  the  following:  Reinforcing  the  New  Approach;  2)  Supporting  the 
consistency and coherence of EU harmonisation legislation; 3) Strengthening the conformity 
assessment system; 4) Enhancing the clarity and credibility of the CE marking. 

1.  Effectiveness 

The  NLF  has  been  effective  in  achieving  its  all  four  specific  objectives.  Thanks  to  the 
regulatory  toolbox  set  out  in  the  NLF,  the  provisions  are  repetitive  in  every  single  piece  of 
NLF-aligned  legislation,  whereby  divergences  are  reduced  in  the  EU  product  legislation. 
Technological neutrality supports innovations and should be preserved in  the future as well, 
by avoiding to include more detailed product requirements in the legislation than necessary. 

1 Decision No 768/2008/EC the European Parliament and the Council of 9 July 2008 on a common framework 
for the marketing of products, and repealing Council Decision 93/465/EEC, OJ L 218, 13.8.2008, p. 82–128 
2 Regulation (EC) No 765/2008  of the European Parliament and of the  Council of 9 July 2008 setting out the 
requirements  for  accreditation  and  market  surveillance  relating  to  the  marketing  of  products  and  repealing 
Regulation (EEC) No 339/93, OJ L 218, 13.8.2008, p. 30–47. 

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The effectiveness of the NLF may depend on factors outside of its scope, such as the prompt 
delivery of standards. 

2.  Efficiency 

The NLF has been efficient in achieving all four specific objectives.  Most of the benefits 
of  the  NLF  are  strategic,  such  as  increasing  and  the  global  relevance  of  EU  regulation, 
fostering the free movement of goods in the internal market and increasing Europe’s industrial 
competitiveness.  Reduced  divergences,  facilitated  familiarisation  with  the  rules,  ease  of 
compliance  and  regulatory  certainty  are  benefits  that  are  stressed  by  all  stakeholders. 
Although their quantification is not possible, these benefits are vital for the everyday smooth 
functioning of the internal market and its reliability.  

Some of the costs and benefits cannot be directly attributed to the NLF as a framework. Two 
case  studies  in  Annex  VIII  of  the  SWD  conducted  by  the  contractor  on  recently  evaluated 
directives,  the  Electromagnetic  Compatibility  Directive  and  the  Toy  Safety  Directive, 
investigate the issue of attributing effects to the NLF or to the sector-specific legislation. They 
show  also  that  drawing  a  line  between  NLF-related  impacts  and  impacts  that  should  be 
attributed only to the individual legislation is not straightforward. 

3.  Coherence  

The NLF has been an effective tool to achieve both, internal and external coherence. A 
lack of clarity  has been identified  related to those obligations set  out  in the NLF that are 
impacted  by  the  expansion  of  the  circular  economy  (e.g.  placing  products  on  the  market 
following their substantial modification). The importance of the NLF in creating coherence in 
the  EU  product  framework  is  unarguable.    An  inconsistent  use  of  NLF  definitions  in  a 
legislation  by  determining  them  differently  from  the  meaning  used  in  the  NLF  leads  to 
confusion  among  economic  operators  and  authorities  who  are  familiar  with  the  NLF  and 
therefore to additional costs.  

4.  EU added value 

The  EU  added  value  of  the  NLF  is  highly  appreciated  by  all  stakeholders.  Stakeholders 
consider  that  repealing  the  NLF  (and  having  different  obligations  in  different  pieces  of 
legislation) would generate diverging interpretations, overlaps and contradictions.  

5.  Relevance 

The weaknesses of the NLF identified in this evaluation are mainly related to the relevance of 
certain elements of the NLF. Under the relevance criteria we analyse if the objectives of the 
NLF  still  reflect  current  and  future  needs  (continuing  relevance),  mainly  in  the  light  of 
digitalization and the circular economy objectives. The focus of the NLF is the moment when 
the  product  is  placed  on  the  market.  Nonetheless,  it  seems  that  the  circular  economy 
objectives may require a more dynamic notion of compliance and a mechanism to ensure that 
products are safe and compliant even if they are substantially modified following their placing 
on the market.  

To be able to respond to the current and upcoming needs of product legislation and preserve 
its relevance, it might be useful to explore if the NLF should provide a general framework for 
dealing  with  the  challenges  of  digitalisation  and  complex  value  chains,  facilitating 
remanufacturing  and  high-quality  recycling  of  products  and  introducing  a  digital  product 
passport and digital CE marking. 

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