Revision of the Product Safety Directive | Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee

Conclusions and recommendations

1.1 The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) welcomes the proposal for a Regulation on general product safety (GPSR) as it updates and has the potential to improve the current Directive 2001/95/EC on general product safety (GPSD), especially with regard to the challenges and new developments in markets and technology.

1.2 The EESC notes that many of the lessons learned from 20 years of implementing the GPSD are integrated into the proposed framework, giving hope that consumers will enjoy better protection, particularly when products turn out to be unsafe. At the same time, economic operators and online marketplaces will most likely benefit from clearer and harmonised rules.

1.3 The EESC supports the GPSR proposal, as it acknowledges the need to realign the level playing field between different economic operators, in particular between European manufacturers and SMEs vis-à-vis foreign companies concerning online sales.