PRACTICE

Studies for the preparation of an Implementation Report of the General Product Safety Directive (GPSD), its evaluation as well as of an impact assessment on its potential revision Civic Consulting® has conducted several studies that accompany the proposal for a new General Product Safety Regulation, which will fundamentally revise the existing EU product safety framework. Civic first prepared a Study for the preparation of an Implementation Report of the current General Product Safety Directive (GPSD) for the European Commission. The GPSD is one of the main pieces of European legislation on product safety. The goal of this Directive is to ensure that all products placed on the EU market are safe. A product is considered safe if it meets all safety requirements. The Directive applies to nonfood consumer products. Where such products are subject to specific safety requirements imposed by other pieces of EU legislation, the Directive applies only to those aspects and risks that are not covered by those specific requirements. The implementation study mapped, collected and analysed evidence on the implementation of the GPSD in EU Member States. The final report is published here. Subsequently, Civic conducted an evaluation of the current framework, and prepared a report to support the Commission's impact assessment. Both studies are also published on the Commission's website. Research for all studies was conducted by applying the Civic® legal analysis approach and conducting Civic® consultation to map, collect and analyse evidence on the implementation of the GPSD across the EU, including with the aim to identify best practice implementation. Topical areas covered by the studies include the safety of consumer products (including product traceability); functioning of market surveillance with respect to consumer products; the influence of new technologies and online sales models on product safety; and standardisation work under the GPSD.