ENFORCEMENT OF THE EU DIRECTIVES ON INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS IN THE FIELD OF MARKET SURVEILLANCE

1
ENFORCEMENT OF THE EU DIRECTIVES ON INDUSTRIAL
PRODUCTS IN THE FIELD OF MARKET SURVEILLANCE
2
THE ADOPTION OF THE AQUIS COMMUNAUTAIRE

• The European directives regulating the above
  mentioned domains were transposed in to the
  national legislation through Government Decisions
• Among the 27 above mentioned fields, the Labour
  Inspection is a market surveillance body for the
  following kind of products
• Low voltage equipments-Directive 73/23/CEE
• Personal protective equipment -Directive
  89/686/CEE
• Machinery- Directive 89/37/CE
• Equipments and protective systems used in
  potentially explosive atmospheres - Directive
  94/9/CE
• Noise emissions produced by equipments used
  outside buildings-Directive 2000/14/CE
• Explosives for civil uses -Directive 93/15/CE

3
The Labour Inspection

• The Labour Inspection has been set up under the
  Law no.108/1999 on Labour Inspection and the
  Government Decision no.767/1999
• The Labour Inspection is a special body of the
  central public administration, subordinated to
  the Ministry of Labour , Social Solidarity and
  Family
• The Labour Inspection has as subordinated bodies
  42 Territorial Labour Inspectorates established
  in every county and in Bucharest
• The Labour Inspection enforces the legal
  provisions in two main domains health and safety
  at work and labour relations
• The Labour Inspection is led by a General
  Inspector of State and two deputy general
  inspectors of state

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Functions of the Labour Inspection in the field
of occupational safety and health

• Controls the application of the legal provisions
  on the certification of the products, machines,
  tools and protective equipments in terms of
  safety at work,
• Performs or requires tests or measuring,
  investigates samples of materials or products
  from enterprises in order to prevent hazardous
  situations
• Takes measures requiring immediate stop or
  cessation of any working activity in case labour
  inspectors identify an imminent danger to the
  health or safety of the workers or of any other
  persons

5
The Labour Inspectors are empowered

• To enter freely and without previous notice at
  any hour of the day or night any workplace liable
  to inspection
• To require the employer the production of any
  books, or documents needed in order to achieve
  the control or the investigation regarding the
  accidents at work
• To obtain proofs, carry out investigations or
  examinations, to require necessary documentation,
  to take for the purpose of analysis samples or
  substances used in the working process
• To require that the identified violations to
  infringements of the legal provisions in the
  field shall be solved immediately or within a
  specified time limit and to require the
  modification of the installation or the
  technological process used if do not ensure
  safety at work

6
The Labour Inspection structure in the field of
market surveillance

• At Central level 2 labour inspectors coordinated
  by the Directorate control Health and Safety at
  Work and by the Deputy General Inspector of State
• At territorial level 2 labour inspectors for
  each of the 42 territorial labour inspectorates.
• All labour inspectors in the country identify the
  non-compliant products during regular
  inspections at the workplaces and bring results
  to the market surveillance labour inspectors.

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Strengthening the administrative capacity of the
Labour Inspection for the enforcement of the EU
directives
Starting with the second quarter of the year
2003, when the first Directive(Low voltage) was
transposed into the Romanian legislation, the
main concern of the Labour Inspection was to
train the labour inspectors on the enforcement
of the legal provisions regarding free movement
of goods and market surveillance.
8
Strengthening the administrative capacity of the
Labour Inspection for the enforcement of the EU
directives

• 3 regional seminars with the participation of 90
  labour inspectors from all the Romanian counties
  were organized in 2003. Debates were on the
  following topics
• The European Guideliness for a New and Global
  Approach
• The 6 EU directives in the field of competence of
  the Labour Inspection
• General and specific procedures laid out by the
  Labour Inspection for the market surveillance.

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Strengthening the administrative capacity of the
Labour Inspection for the enforcement of the EU
directives

• Other regional seminars were organized with the
  participation of the labour inspectors having
  attributions in the field of market surveillance
  were organized in 2004. The following materials
  were presented
• EU Guideliness on the application of each
  Directive
• The Romanian legal provisions(Government
  Decisions) transposing chapter 8 of the New
  Approach Guideliness regarding the market
  surveillance
• The European Standards applicable for the
  European directives

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Strengthening the administrative capacity of the
Labour Inspection for the enforcement of the EU
directives
The main issues and the inspection methods in the
field of the market surveillance are shared and
disseminated to all labour inspectors within the
professional training programmes carried on at
national level , as a follow up to the twinning
project Strengthening the institutional
capacity of the Labour Inspection developed in
the period of time 2000 2002 between the
Romanian Labour Inspection and the Authority for
the Working Environment from Sweden
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Strengthening the administrative capacity of the
Labour Inspection for the enforcement of the EU
directives
The professional training of the labour
inspectors continued in 2005, with 3 regional
seminars, where the information acknowledged by a
group of 10 labour inspectors within the exchange
of experience in the field of the market
surveillance with German experts was
disseminated
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Strengthening the administrative capacity of the
Labour Inspection for the enforcement of the EU
directives

• The professional training of the labour
  inspectors in the field of market surveillance
  was carried out within other EU technical
  assistance programmes such as
• The bilateral cooperation programme
  Romania-Belgium, developped by the Ministry of
  Labour , Social Solidarity and Family from
  Romania and the Ministry of Labour from the
  Kingdom of Belgium, resulted in training at
  European standards for a group of labour
  inspectors
• The GTZ programme, financed by the German
  Government on economic promotion and employment
  in Romania, concluded to the qualification , at
  high standards of 10 trainers in the field of Low
  voltage equipments , who will share the
  experience with other labour inspectors

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Strengthening the administrative capacity of the
Labour Inspection for the enforcement of the EU
directives
At the same time, Romanian labour inspectors
participated within the TAIEX programme(Technical
Assistance and Exchange Information Office),
periodically organized in Romania in the field of
free movement of goods.
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Dissemination of information for producers,
importers and dealers/distributors

• The flow of information provided periodically by
  the Labour Inspection to producers, authorized
  representatives, importers, dealers distributors
  and consumers, on legislative issues has an
  important role within the market surveillance
  activity , in order to achieve a trade with safe
  products, avoiding accidents at work and
  occupational diseases
• The meetings are organized by the territorial
  labour inspectorates.

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Other domestic and international cooperation
actions

• In order to avoid the competence overlaps and to
  increase the efficiency of the controls, the
  Labour Inspection signed 2 cooperation
  agreements one with the National Authority for
  Consumers Protection in the field of low voltage
  electrical equipments the other and with the
  State Inspection for the control of Boilers,
  Vessels under Pressure and Lifting Outfits , now
  on going, in order to perform common inspections
  for the products which are regulated by the
  directives Machinery and Vessels under pressure.

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Other domestic and international cooperation
actions

• In 2003, the European Union Peer Review mission
  in the field of market surveillance took place in
  Romania. The Labour Inspection capacity both at
  central and local level, through EU experts
  inspections was assessed .
• The conclusions were positive for the Labour
  Inspection

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The Labour Inspection informational system in the
field of market surveillance

• In order to achieve an effective quick control of
  the products at national level, the Labour
  Inspection designed and is using a database.
• The database is available on the Internet for all
  labour inspectors in order to display the
  products recorded.
• For the registration of the products, the
  database is accessible only for the labour
  inspectors with clearly defined attributions in
  the field of market surveillance.
• An on-line forum on case studies and specific
  situations is accessible too.

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The Labour Inspection informational system in the
field of market surveillance

• The application allows fast drafting of the
  reports required by Romanian institutions(the
  Government, the Ministry of Economy and trade,
  Ministry of Labour, Social Solidarity and
  Family), as well as European institution
• this way, we have any time a clear picture of
• compliant and non-compliant products, in general
  or for each directive or producer
• Number of the products controlled in a defined
  period of time
• Number of restricted products for the whole
  country or for each county.
• The value of the fines, globally or separately
  for each directive.

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Control activity results

• The controls within the New Approach of the
  market surveillance activity started in June 2003
  and were carried out within a national campaign
  for products regulated by the Low Voltage
  Directive.
• The Campaign has continued in 2004 and 2005 and
  has been extended also for the products regulated
  by the Directives Machinery, Personal Protective
  Equipment, equipments and protection systems
  used in potentially explosive atmospheres, and
  noise emissions.
• After the enforcement of the legal act regulating
  the placing on market of the civil use
  explosives( October 2005) , controls have been
  extended for this kind of products, too.

20
Control activity results

• About 280 producers, importers and distributors
  were controlled in 2003. 35 of the 950 products
  were identified as non-conform.
• During 2004, 430 producers, importers and
  distributors, meaning 3900 products were
  inspected. The percentage for non-conform
  products was 20
• During the first 4 months of the year 2005, 125
  producers, importers and distributors have been
  inspected, cumulating 1050 products. The
  percentage for non conform products was 17.
• The tendency of decreasing the percentage for non
  conform products is due to the fact that the
  awareness in respect to the New Approach
  legislation, has increased, and this is the
  outcome of a better dissemination and inspection
  activity

21
Control activity results

• The main non conformities identified during the
  controls are
• absence or incorrect issuing of the conformity
  declaration
• Incorrect assessment procedure
• absence of a technical file
• essential health and safety requirements not
  fulfilled

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Number of inspections between 2003 and 2006
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Products inspected between 2003 and 2006
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Number of conform products between 2003 and 2006
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Number of nonconform products between 2003 and
2006
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Amount conform (63)/nonconform(37) products in
2003
27
Amount of conform(82)/nonconform(18) products
in 2004
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Amount of conform(77)/nonconform (23)products
in 2005
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Products inspected depending on directives in 2005
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Amount of conform(92)/nonconform(8) products in
2006
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Control activity results

• The main measures imposed by the labour
  inspectors during the controls , are
• Measures for enforcement the conformity
• Warnings
• Temporary interdiction for placing the products
  on the market
• Contravention fines

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Perspectives and objectives

• Until 01.01.2007(estimated time for Romania
  accession to the European Union) the producers,
  importers and distributors must be prepared for
  the exclusive application of the CE marking and
  the withdrawal of the national marking CS.
• The implementation of the European network
  informational system ICSMS in Labour Inspection
  activity.
• The extension of the cooperation protocols with
  other institutions(for example the Customs) , for
  avoiding and restricting of the non-conform
  products at the border.

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Perspectives and objectives

• The creation on of a network of accredited
  testing laboratories for the non conform
  products.
• The endowment of the labour inspectors with
  testing and control devices .
• The Continuation of the national programme for
  the training of the labour inspectors in the
  field of market surveillance.
• Continuing the national campaign for the
  implementation of EU Directives in the field of
  market surveillance by focussing on target groups
  of products.