The European Commission is currently evaluating the New Legal Framework (NLF) and providing the opportunity to take part in a consultation. The target audience comprises economic operators, industry associations, national authorities responsible for implementing product legislation, notifying authorities, accreditation bodies, notified bodies, market surveillance authorities (MSAs), standards bodies and consumer associations.
The evaluation objectives are in particular to:
- Assess the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU added-value of certain aspects of the New Legislative Framework (NLF), focusing on Decision No 768/2008/EC (common requirements for placing goods on the European market), but considering the conformity assessment aspects of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008.
- Provide an informed assessment of the NLF’s current performance, including a cost-benefit analysis under the efficiency criterion.
- Consider the NLF’s ongoing fitness for purpose, given digitalization-related developments, the integration of new technologies into smart products in an Internet of Things context, and increased regulatory pressures to address the circular economy in product legislation.
The evaluation focuses on the innovations introduced by the New Legal Framework, such as the accreditation framework for improving the quality and consistency of conformity assessment. Market surveillance aspects lie outside the study scope, as these aspects of Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 have already been evaluated. The functioning of Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 on European standardisation also lies outside the scope of this evaluation.
Interested parties have the opportunity to participate in the consultation via this link until 11 January 2022.
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