Over 2,400 inspections held and almost 9 thousand controlled products - this is the effect of the first six months of operation of the market supervision system monitored by the President of UOKiK. The Council of Ministers approved today the report on its structure and monitoring

The document summarises the works related to the construction in Poland of a market supervision system within the sphere of new approach directives and the first month of its functioning. The system was set up on the basis of EU standards and its tasks include elimination of products not complying with fundamental requirements from the market.

The market supervision system for products subject to the new approach directives is monitored by the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, who operates through specialised bodies (authorised to control products and to initiate proceedings against these enterprises which market products do not comply with essential requirements).

Since 1 May 2004, within the functioning of the market supervision system, over 2,400 inspections were made and almost 9,000 products were inspected. Over 700 of those seemed not to have met the essential requirements. In this connection a number of administrative proceedings were started and preliminary action were initiated against some enterprises (request to remove irregularities, ban on marketing the products). It should be underlined, that the inspections covered exclusively products marketed after 1 May 2004, when the new approach directives became obligatory in Poland, requiring that some products are CE marked.

The control covered, for instance, toys - out of over 1,600 controlled items, irregularities concerned 19 as they did not have instructions of use and did not bear the required warnings or CE marking. Almost 50 out of 353 controlled personal protection items sold in shops (e.g. helmets, goggles, glasses, gloves, plasters and other dressing products, etc.), did not meet basic requirements. A similar number of irregularities (62 out of 400 controlled items) were found with respect to household appliances and other electrical products.

Harmonisation of requirements of marketed products is a foundation of the Common Market. In order to provide free cross-border flow of goods, it was necessary to abandon development of detailed requirements for each product, substituted with a more efficient method to develop essential requirements for groups of products. The new approach directives in force (all have been implemented to Polish law), specify requirements for various areas - toys, packaging and electrical appliances, the building materials, pressure devices and lifts, recreational boats and cable railways.

The new approach directives also provide for the functioning of one common mark (CE marking that has to be placed on goods subject to the new approach directives marketed in the EU or in another country), indicating that a given product meets the essential requirements. Thus, a Polish consumer buying a product manufactured in another EU country, is assured that it has been produced in accordance with Community standards.

Efficient control mechanisms are beneficial also to enterprises as they eliminate unfair competition. They prevent unfair companies from saving costs to be incurred when products are assessed for compliance.

Additional information:
Elżbieta Anders, Spokesperson of UOKiK
International Relations and Communication Department
Office of Competition and Consumer Protection
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw
Ph.: (+48 22) 827 28 92, 55 60 106, 55 60 314
E-mail: eanders@uokik.gov.pl