- At a UNE Meeting, experts underline the need to comply with technical standards and legislation to prevent the marketing of unsafe products and services, which seriously damage the economy, harm consumers and entail unfair competition for companies that do comply.
6 July 2021. On 16 July next, the entire new European Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and product conformity will enter into force. The main aim of this new regulation is to promote public-private collaboration between market surveillance authorities and economic operators in all EU countries. The initiative falls under the competence of governments and local authorities, which the new EU regulations aim to strengthen through partnership.
This was reported at the online Market Surveillance Conference. Entry into force of European Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, organized today by the Spanish Association for Standardization, UNE, in which experts from Spanish Public Administrations and economic sectors have made very positive assessments of the new regulations. Furthermore, the experts underlined the need to comply with technical standards and legislation to prevent the marketing of unsafe products and services, which seriously damage the economy, harm consumers and entail unfair competition for companies that do comply with them.
Compliance with technical standards has many benefits; including providing credibility in the markets, boosting industrial activity and providing a guarantee for consumers, as highlighted in the recent document published by UNE Market Surveillance Observatory.
Furthermore, the new European regulation aims to provide a high level of protection of public interests, such as general health and safety, consumer and environmental protection, public safety and the protection of any other public interest.
Precisely in order to strengthen public-private partnership, UNE has launched the Market Surveillance Observatory, with the participation of more than 30 relevant Spanish business organizations, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Industry, Trade and Tourism, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation. The OVM is a unique opportunity to establish a basis for collaboration between companies, authorities and market watchers based on mutual trust and with a common goal.
Experts from Public Administrations and private organizations
The Conference was opened by Javier García, CEO of UNE. The event was organized in two round tables, presented by Paloma García, Director of Standardization and Stakeholder Programmes at UNE. The General Director of Consumer Affairs, Bibiana Medialdea, also took part, offering the vision of the Public Administrations; the Head of the Industrial Safety Department of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, José Antonio Delgado-Echagüe; Nelson Castro, Directorate-General for Consumer Affairs; Ana Acero, Deputy Director of the Directorate-General for Consumer Affairs; Belén Alonso, National Coordinator for Standardization, Certification and Conformity Assessment at SOIVRE- MINCOTUR; representatives of the State Secretariat for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures (SETELECO) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation (MINECO) and Jorge Iñesta, Deputy Director General of Industry and Inspection of the Directorate-General for Economic and Industrial Promotion of the Department of Economy, Finance and Employment of the Community of Madrid.
The round table offering the industry's vision was moderated by Alfredo Berges, Chairman of the Market Surveillance Observatory and Deputy Chairman of UNE, and was attended by Cristina Miró, Technical Secretary of the Spanish Toy Manufacturers Association (AEFJ); Jose Luis Díez, Secretary General of the Spanish Association of Paint and Printing Ink Manufacturers (ASEFAPI) and Óscar Querol, Director of the Technical Department of the Association of Electrical Material Manufacturers (AFME).
