1.5 本ガイドの範囲

This Guide discusses non-food and non-agricultural products referred to as industrial products or products whether for use by consumers or professionals. The product-related legislation that deals with these products will be referred throughout the text indistinctly as Union harmonisation legislation, sectoral Union harmonisation legislation or Union harmonisation acts.

The New Legislative Framework consists of a set of legal documents. In particular Decision No 768/2008/EC provides for elements, which are partially or totally implemented in product-related Union harmonisation legislation addressing various public interests. The guide gives guidance for the implementation of the provisions and concepts laid down in the New Legislative Framework (24) as well as for the general application of market surveillance provisions according to Regulation (EU) 2019/1020. Where there are product-specific deviations or provisions the guide refers to sectoral guides, which exist for almost all sectoral Union harmonisation legislation.

The present Guide has the ambition of explaining the different elements of the New Legislative Framework as well as market surveillance in detail and of contributing to a better overall understanding of the system so that legislation is implemented properly and is therefore effective for the protection of public interests such as health and safety, the protection of consumers, the protection of the environment and public security, as well as the proper functioning of the internal market for economic operators. Furthermore, the Guide promotes the goals of the Commission’s better regulation policy by clarifying existing legislation, thus contributing to the development of more comprehensive, coherent and proportionate legislation.

Each of these chapters should be read in conjunction with the explanations set out above, in other words against the general background, and in conjunction with the other chapters, as they are all interlinked and should not be seen in isolation.

This guide primarily relates to the Union legislation on:

However, elements of this Guide might be relevant for other Union harmonisation legislation going even beyond the realm of products listed above. This is particularly true for the various definitions in the Guide as well as the chapters bearing on standardisation, conformity assessment, accreditation and market surveillance where other Union harmonisation legislation rely on the same definitions or concepts. In particular, chapter 7 on market surveillance will be of relevance for the legislation included in Annex I of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020. A larger list of legislation concerned is provided in Annex 1.

The Guide does not attempt to cover:

—the Directive on General Product Safety (25). Guidelines for the management of the European Union Rapid Information System ‘RAPEX’ have been adopted in 2018 (RAPEX Guidelines) (26),

—the Union legislation on motor vehicles, construction products, REACH, and other chemicals beyond the legislation included in the list above or the general aspects mentioned above, including market surveillance,

—the Union food legislation including the chemical safety of food contact materials.