Our market surveillance activities
Safety, quality and environmental performance are of paramount importance to EGMF members. We build products which fulfil the promises we make to our customers. They are compliant with EU legislation on safety, ergonomics and the environment. Our manufacturers explain how to handle and use their products safely. We have invested heavily in safety and environmental protection because we want to protect our customers from injury or death.
However, not all products on the market in Europe meet the same stringent safety and environmental levels. Testing has shown that counterfeit and non-compliant products are likely to present a safety hazard to consumers. It has also shown that these products are a hazard for the environment. By emitting excessive noise and/or polluting exhaust gases, they slowly endanger our health, our pets, wildlife living in the gardens/forests and future generations. These products gain an unfair competitive advantage from being non-compliant. They compromise the financial stability of our companies as we cannot compete with unfair methods.
They cause increased unemployment in Europe by hampering investment in innovation and training, and they also reduce tax revenue for European countries. Consequently, we call for a common level playing field for competitors in the market with robust market surveillance being an extremely powerful tool to rid the market of counterfeit and non-compliant products. An insufficient market jeopardises the vision of a harmonised European market with free trading. To ensure EU legislation is respected and to prevent the creation of parallel markets through the presence of non-compliant and counterfeit goods, it is essential for the application of EU law to be effectively monitored.
