IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - May 2018 - 102

IP Corner

Product Compliance
and E-Commerce on
the European Market
By Susanne Wende

E

uropean product law is mainly
designed to meet the require-
ments of the consumer who is
buying goods in shops. Accord-
ingly, during the last few years, many
questions and heavy discussion have
arisen on what approach to take regard-
ing online shops and online shopping.
In August 2017, the European Commis-
sion (EC) published a notice on the
market surveillance of products sold
online [1]. Even though the interpreta-
tion and guidelines provided in this
notice are not legally binding, it is to be
expected that national market surveil-
lance authorities will mainly adapt the
approach from the EC. This article will
give an overview and specifically out-
line the aspects of the EC's notice rele-
vant for U.S. manufacturers of consumer
electronics (CE). The clarification given
by the EC with the notice demands a
review of the distribution chain in
Europe, especially if CE are sold online
directly to consumers.

RESPONSIBLE ECONOMIC
OPERATORS UNDER EUROPEAN
PRODUCT LAW
Only products that meet the legal re-
quirements of the applicable European
product law may be placed on the Euro-
pean market. Within the so-called New
Legislative Framework, the European
legislative body issued several product-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MCE.2018.2797621
Date of publication: 10 April 2018

102 IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine

^

may 2018

Only products that meet
the legal requirements of
the applicable European
product law may be placed
on the European market.
specific harmonizing acts with common
definitions and obligations of the differ-
ent economic operators. CE are general-
ly covered by the Low Voltage Directive
2014/35/EU (LVD) and the Directive
on Electromagnetic Compatibility
2014/30/EU (EMC Directive). If CE
have a Bluetooth or wireless local area
network interface, the European Radio
Equipment Directive 2014/53/EU
(RED) is most likely applicable as well.
The choice of applicable harmonized
European Union (EU) legislation has to
be examined very carefully in every sin-
gle case, as the necessary conformity
assessment procedure to be carried out
by the manufacturer varies between the
different legal acts. A product can only
comply with legal requirements if these
are known.
Accordingly, it is crucial for the
economic operators to know which har-
monized legal act applies to their prod-
uct. The assessment of the applicable
law often requires a quite complicated
legal-technical analysis. The harmoni-
zation legislation under the New Legis-
lative Framework, such as LVD, EMC
Directive, and RED, defines different

economic operators and their obliga-
tions regarding product conformity.

THE MANUFACTURER
The manufacturer is the person mainly
responsible for product compliance on
the European market. According to the
guidance on interpretation of European
product law given by the EC, the manu-
facturer shall be the entity primarily to
be addressed by market surveillance
measures. Manufacturer is defined as
any natural or legal person who manu-
factures a product or has a product de-
signed or manufactured and places it on
the market under his or her own name
or trademark.
Accordingly, if an economic operator
in the distribution chain, i.e., a fulfillment
center or an online shop, places its name
on the product in a way suggesting that
this entity is the manufacturer, it becomes
the main responsible person on the Euro-
pean market. Such product labeling spe-
cifically triggers the duty to notify a
product risk discovered in the market and
to take appropriate corrective action. In
such a case, it is important for the U.S.
manufacturer to make sure that it keeps
control over products on the European
market and avoid any measures to be
taken without it even being informed.

THE AUTHORIZED
REPRESENTATIVE AND
THE IMPORTER
The authorized representative or the
importer is mainly responsible for



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