A DAY IN THE LIFE OF...
Each EU member state is also required to have a Market Surveillance Authority, to police compliance to the Directive and the new Regulation for any products entering the country or
“THE ENORMITY
OF SOME OF THE CHANGES TO
COME INEVITABLY BROUGHT
ABOUT A LOT OF DISCUSSION.”
being offered for sale there. In the UK this role is also controlled by BIS, and ‘on the ground’ is shared between Trading Standards and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), with Trading Standards taking the front line duties. Market Surveillance doesn’t escape the revision either, with additional obligations being introduced.
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The workshop certainly filled the day, with future obligations and requirements presented for each of the groups mentioned. The original plan for the workshop was that for part of the day those attending would break out into smaller groups to discuss particular areas of interest to them, but individuals found it so difficult to select one or two topics as being of greater importance to them than others, that in the end the agenda had to run every topic to the entire audience.
The enormity of some of the changes to come inevitably brought about a lot of discussion on the finer details of their exact meanings and how to apply them. Answers to the questions raised cannot be found in the text of the Regulation and will have to be dealt with in guidance which the EU Commission will provide to accompany it. To ensure the interests of suppliers to the UK health and safety market are represented the BSIF will be part of the working group that will produce the guidance document, using the guidance for the current Directive as our starting point, and I will attend the first development meeting this summer.
The fact that it is a Regulation, rather than a Directive, means that it becomes
European law on publication and will not require any additional legislation to transpose it into the national law of each member state. This will prevent any of the small changes that can occur in interpretation and translation during transposition by each country, and means the Regulation should be applied in exactly the same way throughout the EU. In the UK some additional guidance is planned on the legal and practical aspects of applying the Regulation, and the BSIF will co- author this guidance with BIS.
So the day was extremely useful, promoting discussion between all the stakeholders affected by the changes, and resulting in a list of questions and areas requiring clarification that will be taken back to the Commission for some definitive answers. Now comes cascading of the same information to BSIF members. We are arranging two regional seminars in the UK for all our members and I have arranged for representatives from BIS to also attend so that members will have the opportunity to be heard directly, raising their comments and questions and developing the points that I will take to the guidance working group. Back to Brussels again!
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