New regulations that come into force in July 2021 will require all products sold in the European Union to be registered with an EU based, official responsible party.
If you are based outside of the European Union (EU) and you sell directly, online, or through a fulfilment service like eBay or Amazon, this regulation affects you. All the products you sell will need registering with an EU based, official responsible party.
The regulation, Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 comes into force in July 2021, and it’s purpose is to strengthen the controls on products sold in the EU. The regulation introduces stricter border controls, increased market surveillance and the requirement for all non-EU manufacturers to have an EU based ‘responsible party’.
The regulation is part of the EU’s “Shaping Europe’s digital future” policy to break down online barriers and improve full access to all goods and services offered online by EU businesses. Unjustified cross-border barriers will go and facilitate cheaper cross-border parcel deliveries and the protection of online customer rights.
The regulation is expected to have the greatest impact on online sales crossing the EU’s border where the business is based outside of the EU, and the consumer in the EU. At the moment no organisation has responsible for regulatory compliance because the consumer is the ‘importer’ who is responsible for compliance of what they buy online from vendors located outside of the EU.
The list of products is extensive, but for the office imaging market this EU legislation covers imaging devises and consumables under the Ecodesign Directive, the Ecolabel Regulation and the Energy Labelling Regulation.
According to the Certification Experts website: “A ‘responsible party’ can be a manufacturer, importer, distributor, fulfilment service provider, or Authorised Representative. ”
The responsible party’s role is to be the EU point of contact, and you need to formally register for this and making available the product conformity and technical files and documentation. The responsible party is responsible for verifying CE marking and informing the authorities if a product presents a risk.
The contact information of the responsible party must be provided on the product and/or its packaging.
When the regulation comes into force, there will be increased market surveillance and possible penalties under the new regulation.
