Protection of consumers: general product safety (rev. Directive 92/59/EEC)

The committee adopted the report by Laura GONZALEZ ALVAREZ (EUL/NGL, E) modifying the Council's common position under the codecision procedure (2nd reading). It reinstated a number of important amendments from first reading, in particular on safety of services, the precautionary principle, market monitoring and the European product safety network. The committee also disagreed with the new provisions that had been introduced in the common position, and which were aimed at watering down the ban on the export of dangerous products by allowing different decisions to be taken on a case-by-case basis. The committee felt that those new provisions ran counter to the very aim of the directive, which was seeking to harmonise Member States' laws allowing only safe products to be marketed. It therefore demanded that the text of the original proposal be reinstated. �