Brussels, BELGIUM — Today, the European Parliament’s Internal Market Committee (IMCO) adopted its position on the proposed General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR). The aim of these new rules is to update the European framework that ensures the safety of products sold offline and online in the EU.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA Europe) supports the main objectives of the GPSR, including the introduction of specific obligations for online marketplaces, provided that those take due account of the intermediary nature of a marketplace.
In particular, CCIA Europe welcomes the fact that the IMCO position approved today has been further aligned with the recently adopted Digital Services Act (DSA), so that the GPSR can serve as “lex specialis” specifically governing product safety.
It is now essential, however, that the new obligations for online marketplaces are fine-tuned to increase their effectiveness and proportionality, as the current proposal still does not properly reflect the real-world abilities of marketplaces with regard to both access to the actual products and the maturity of technology to verify product safety.
Today’s IMCO vote paves the way for interinstitutional negotiations between the European Parliament and EU member states. CCIA Europe therefore calls on EU lawmakers to ensure the final GPSR legislation improves product safety for consumers without impeding Europe’s thriving e-commerce sector.
The following can be attributed to CCIA Policy Manager, Mathilde Adjutor:
“The digitalisation of Europe’s SMEs has been given a major boost by online marketplaces and e-commerce platforms since the pandemic began. New EU product safety rules can really help to deliver a safer online environment while also supporting businesses to go online.”
“It is great to see that the European Parliament now recognises the wide variety of different business models employed by online marketplaces, which is key to ensuring that any specific marketplace obligations remain both realistic and efficient.”