CELEX: 51992PC0429
Language: en
Date: 1992-11-23
Title: Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION concerning the institution of a Community system for the exchange of information in respect of certain products which may jeopardize consumers' health or safety

31 . 12 . 92                             Official Journal of the European Communities                            No C 347 / 11
                                                                II
                                                        (Preparatory Acts)
                                                   COMMISSION
             Proposal for a Council Decision concerning the institution of a Community system for the
             exchange of information in respect of certain products which may jeopardize consumers' health
                                                            or safety
                                                         (92/C 347/09)
                                                       COM(92) 429 final
                                       (Submitted by the Commission on 2 December 1992)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                            Whereas this procedure applies to any consumer product
                                                                    which does not conform with the applicable rules and
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European               which may jeopardize the health or safety of consumers
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235                   (though without presenting a serious and immediate
thereof,                                                            risk), and in respect of which a Member State has
                                                                    decided to take restrictive measures, in so far as the
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                  product concerned is not covered by an equivalent
Having regard to the opinion of the European                        Community notification procedure ;
Parliament,
                                                                    Whereas, by Council Decision 89/45/EEC (*), as
Whereas, in the context of the internal market and to               amended by Decision 90/352/EEC (3), a warning system
maintain its ability to function, Member States and the             has been set up, providing for a procedure for the rapid
Commission should be informed of measures restricting               exchange of information between the Member States and
or prohibiting the marketing or use of certain products ;           the Commission applicable to consumer products
                                                                    presenting a serious and immediate risk; whereas, for
Whereas, to this end, current Community legislation                 reasons of effectiveness, an information system using the
provides for notification procedures in the event of risks          infrastructure set up under the aforementioned Decision,
arising from products which conform with the applicable             suitably amended in the light of the objective laid down,
rules, along with a procedure for the rapid exchange of             should be instituted ;
information in respect of consumer products presenting a
serious and immediate risk; whereas, on the other hand,             Whereas, in the context of this procedure, it is necessary
there is no procedure, except in the foodstuffs sector,             to provide for the use of a standard format setting out
whereby Member States can receive information on                    clearly the information to be supplied ;
products marketed in a Member State which do not
conform with Community or national legislation and                  Whereas whenever it is established, in the context of the
which present a certain risk for consumers' health or               functioning of the internal market, that consumer
safety, although they give rise to no serious and                   products, because of their non-conformity with the rules
immediate risk;                                                     that apply to them, risk jeopardizing consumers' health
Whereas Council Directive 92/59/EEC of 29 June 1992                 or safety, adequate information should be provided at
on general product safety (J) is intended to introduce, as          Community level in order to ensure that appropriate
soon as it comes into force on 29 June 1994, a notifi­              steps are taken ; whereas this Decision constitutes a
cation procedure applicable to products which are not               measure to accompany the removal of technical controls
                                                                    at internal frontiers ; whereas the provisions of this
covered by an equivalent procedure under specific                   Decision, which correspond to other existing procedures
Community legislation ;                                             and are based on those provided for in Article 7 of
Whereas abolition of controls at the internal frontiers             Directive 92 / 59 / EEC, are necessary to ensure adequate
makes it necessary to anticipate certain measures to be             exchange of information ; whereas they are limited to
taken pursuant to Article 7 of Directive 92/59/EEC, to              what is strictly necessary in this respect ;
ensure that the Member States and the Commission will
have at their disposal, as of 1 January 1993, a procedure           Whereas for the action in question the Treaty makes no
for the exchange of information on the products in                  provision for powers other than those under Article 235,
question ;
                                                                    O OJ No L 17 , 21 . 1 . 1989, p . 51 .
O OJ No L 228 , 11 . 8 . 1992, p. 24 .                              O OJ No L 173 , 6. 7. 1990, p. 49.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 347 / 12                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                 31 . 12 . 92
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION :                                                                        Article 2
                                                                       This Decision shall apply to all products intended for use
                             Article 1                                 by consumers except :
 1 . Any Member State which decides to adopt                           (a) products intended exclusively for professional use ;
measures to prevent, restrict or attach particular                     (b) products which under other Community instruments
conditions to the marketing or use on its territory of a                    are the subject of equivalent procedures.
product or product batch because it does not conform
with the relevant Community or national rules and may                                              Article 3
jeopardize the health or safety of consumers when used
in normal and foreseeable conditions, shall inform the                 Each Member State shall indicate to the Commission one
Commission thereof. Whenever possible, the producer,                   or more national authorities designated to forward or
distributor or importer of the product or product batch                receive the information referred to in Article 1 . On
shall first be consulted .                                             receipt of this indication, the Commission shall forward
                                                                       it to the competent authorities of the other Member
The first subparagraph shall not apply if the measures                 States .
relate to an event, the effect of which is local and in any
case limited to the territory of the Member State                                                  Article 4
concerned .
                                                                       In justified cases, and if the competent authority of the
2 . The information relating to the product or product                 Member States supplying information under this
batch referred to in paragraph 1 shall be drawn up in                  Decision so requests, the information shall be treated as
accordance with the format set out in Annex I and shall                confidential.
be forwarded to the Commission in accordance with the
procedure described in Annex II.                                                                   Article 5
                                                                       This Decision shall apply until 29 June 1994 .
3 . On receipt of the information, the Commission
shall verify its conformity with the terms of this Decision                                        Article 6
and shall forward it to the competent authorities of the
other Member States .                                                  This Decision is addressed to the Member States .
                                                              ANNEX I
                              COMMUNITY SYSTEM FOR THE EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION
                                                 Application of Decision 92/. . ./EEC
                1 . Notifying Member State (name and address of person to contact for further information) :
 ---pagebreak--- 31 . 12 . 92                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                   No C 347 / 13
               2. Date ofnotification :
               3 . Product category:
               4. Description ofproduct packaging (l) (2) and labelling:
                     Name of product :
                     Brand name :
             (') Include sufficient details to identify the product clearly (in particular: materials, colours, dimensions).
             (J) Give model number(s) and other markings.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 347 / 14                           Official Journal of the European Communities 31 . 12 . 92
              5 . Information concerning the
                  manufacturer:                      Name :
                                                     Address :
              6. Information concerning the
                  importer:                          Name :
                                                     Address :
              7. Information concerning the
                  distributor:
                                                     Name :
                                                     Address :
              8 . Country oforigin :
 ---pagebreak--- 31 . 12 . 92                               Official Journal of the European Communities       No C 347 / 15
              9. Where was the product
                  found?
                  9a) At (tick appropriate box)
                                                         retailer          wholesaler   other
             10. Nature of risk (specify the risk
                  and any requirements with which
                  the product does not conform
                  including, where appropriate,
                  details and results of tests carried
                  out on the product and any
                  accidents which have occurred) :
             11 . Details    of measures         taken
                  (including scope and effective
                  date) :
 ---pagebreak--- No C 347 / 16                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                     31 . 12 . 92
             12. Additional information (especially
                 if the products are sold in other
                 Member States) :
                                                             ANNEX II
                                                   TRANSMISSION PROCEDURE
            Member States' notifications in respect of products falling within the scope of Article 1 of this Decision are
            to be forwarded, by fax or telex, to the following address :
            Commission of the European Communities,
            Consumer Policy Service,
            Unit 3 — General product and services safety,
            200 , rue de la Loi,
            B-1049 Brussels :
            (fax : (32 2) 296 43 23 ; telex COMEU B 21877).