Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-02-19-Speech-2-011"
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"en.20080219.5.2-011"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, President-in-Office, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to begin by thanking you all for the fantastic collaboration we have had in connection with the work on this package. It has been exciting in many ways. As the shadow rapporteurs know, this has been my first report during my time in Parliament and it has been a good learning experience. It has also been very challenging to work on three reports and therefore also with other rapporteurs. It has been exciting!
The fact that we have had three reports that have overlapped in certain areas has ultimately benefited our work, as we now have a coherent piece of legislation for the internal market, which will strengthen this market. There is considerable discussion concerning better legislation, and although the Commission has undoubtedly scratched its head at times during our negotiations, I would nevertheless venture to say that our work here is an example of a good process. We have all worked together very effectively and achieved a good result from this. We have, on the other hand, also had very many meetings to reach this point.
I would like to highlight three things that we have campaigned for from Parliament’s side in connection with this framework for the marketing of products; three things that we have worked through and that are important in enabling us now to support the compromise we have reached and be quite satisfied with it. Firstly, I think that it has been a great victory for consumers that we have strengthened the requirements imposed on enterprises throughout the supply chain. Everyone who comes into contact with a product will be responsible for ensuring that that product is safe and meets EU requirements. This applies equally to the manufacturer in China, the importer in Cologne or the distributor in Copenhagen. This also means quite specifically that an importer will no longer be able to claim that he is not responsible if a product that is imported proves to be dangerous or does not meet EU regulations in general.
Secondly, right at the finishing line we have agreed on how to reinforce the CE marking. It has been clear right from our very first debate in committee that it has been somewhat difficult to determine how we can solve this problem. What is the marking exactly? How can we reinforce controls? Is it really a credible guarantee for safety at all? The solution we have arrived at allows us to retain and reinforce the CE marking. In future Member States will prosecute companies and producers that misuse the CE marking. At the same time, we will also have strengthened market control, not least as a result of Mr Brie’s report. Overall, this means that we as consumers will in future be able to have much greater confidence in the products that carry the marking.
However – and this is the third point – in the proposal we have also committed the Commission to follow up the functioning of the marking. The CE marking is not necessarily the solution to all our safety problems within the internal market. The marking is aimed primarily at organisations and authorities concerned with market surveillance. Therefore, through this decision we have requested that the Commission carry out an investigation into how the market operates and undertake a thorough assessment of consumer safety markings in general. The Commission is in the process of carrying out this work and we are very eagerly awaiting the results.
This decision is not legislative in a legal sense, but it does contain a clear political obligation, which will mean that future product legislation will be based on the framework that we have created through the decision. In concrete terms, this means that when we begin work on the Toy Directive, we will take these definitions and these provisions concerning enterprises and incorporate them in the Toy Directive. This means that we will actually have a much safer internal market. I am entirely certain that through this we will improve safety levels within the internal market for the benefit of consumers, and also for the benefit of enterprises. Thank you to everyone for your collaboration and especially to Mr Stubb and Mr Brie."@en1
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