NIST GCR 01-825
A Guide to the EU Directive on General Product Safety
The measures to be taken by the competent authorities of the Member States under this Article shall be addressed, as appropriate, to:
- the producer;
- within the limits of their respective activities, distributors and, in particular, the party responsible for the first stage of distribution on the national market; and
- any other person, where necessary, with regard to cooperation in action taken to avoid risks arising from a product.
Notification and Exchanges of Information (Safeguard Clause, Article 7 of the Directive)
When a Member State withdraws a product from the market or places restrictions on it, that State has to inform the Commission that it has done so. This obligation does not apply when the situation concerns a local event that is limited to the territory of the Member State concerned.
The Commission will begin consultations with the concerned parties as soon as possible to determine whether the Member State's action was justified and if further action is necessary.
When a Member State adopts or decides to adopt emergency measures to prevent, restrict or impose specific conditions on the possible marketing or use, within its own territory, of a product or product batch because of a serious and immediate risk presented by the said product or product batch, it will have to inform the Commission. It does not have to do so if the effects of the risk do not, or cannot, go beyond its territory. Even if it does not initiate an emergency measure, a Member State can still pass on to the Commission information regarding the existence of a serious and immediate risk.
Note: The Annex to the Directive points out that "it is impossible to lay down specific criteria as to what, precisely, constitutes an immediate and serious risk; in this regard, the national authorities will therefore judge each individual case on its merits."
When it receives this information, the Commission will check to see if it complies with the provisions of this Directive and shall forward it to the other Member States, which, in turn, shall immediately inform the Commission of any measures adopted.
Detailed procedures for the Community information system described in this Article are set out in the Annex: Detailed Procedures for the Application of the Community System for the Rapid Exchange of Information Provided for in Article 8.
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