Mid-September 2022 will see the start of negotiations on the proposal for a General Product Safety Regulation.

On 30 August 2022, the European Parliamentary Research Service published a report to be used when conducting further parliamentary work on the regulation, which report indicates that the proposed act would replace the current General Product Safety Directive. The regulation seeks to address the product safety challenges of emerging technologies, including use of artificial intelligence (AI) and connected devices, and to establish clear obligations for online marketplaces, which consumers increasingly use for their online purchases.

The report also indicates that the regulation would create a single set of market surveillance rules for both harmonised and non-harmonised products, and would improve the effectiveness of product recalls.

In addition, the European Parliamentary Research Service suggested requiring that safety assessments of products take account of age suitability for children and health risks for consumers of different genders.

Source: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BRI(2021)698028