Prioritizing and Planning, product selection and sampling in relation to the products covered by the LVD

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Prioritizing and Planning, product selection and
sampling in relation to the products covered by
the LVD

• Workshop on Low Voltage Directive

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Why Market surveillance?

• Market surveillance is essential tool for the
  enforcement of product legislation
• The purpose of Market Surveillance is
• Ensure compliance with legislation
• Establish community wide equivalent level of
  protection
• Help to eliminate unfair competition
• Member States are obliged to organize and carry
  out Market surveillance. (Article 10 of the EC
  treaty)

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Market surveillance

• Investigate (the levels of) compliance with
  legislation
• Determine non compliances
• Intervene when non compliances are found
• Aim for increased levels of compliance

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Prioritizing Planning

• Select and perform MS activities in such a way as
  to make optimal use of the available resources
• Dependent on the objectives and criterions defined

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Market surveillance Planning cycle

• Prioritizing and market surveillance policy
  development

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Planning Cycle
Market Surveillance Vision
Governmental Product safety Policy
Long term program (3 years)
Short term program (1 year)
Operational Activity program
Carry out Activity program
Evaluation
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Policy development
Market Surveillance Vision

• Vision (where do we want to be in future?)
• How do we want to operate
• Consumer protection/fair competition
• Enforcement/compliance assistance/education
• Product, business or risk oriented approach
• System oriented approach, document checks, tests
  or both
• Strategy (How to go there)
• Surveillance of the environment
• Technological developments
• Legal developments
• Political developments
• Consumer Trends
• Demographic Developments
• Emerging risks
• Leads to a long term strategic program (3 year
  period, annually updated)

Long term program (3 years)
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Long term program
Market Surveillance Vision

• Sets global priorities for the next period
• Indicates necessary adjustments to the
  organization
• Adjustments in the way enforcement activities are
  performed
• Adjustments in the fields of interest
• Necessary Investments in laboratories
• (Re)training of personnel

Long term program (3 years)
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Long term program -gt Short term program

• Examples of considerations in the long term
  program
• Less administrative burden on business/trade and
  industry
• More compliance assistence
• Directed by considerations of health gain
• Reducing accidents and injury
• also dependent on organization
• Capacity for specific tasks
• Laboratory capacities

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Short term program
Long term program (3 years)
Short term program (1 year)

• Divide capacity between the tasks (Directives)
• Guided by long term program
• Aims to contribute to public health, e.g.
• Centers on products that present hazards
• Based on expert judgment of relative hazards of
  product categories and assessment of the relative
  risks for these fields
• Makes use of analysis of accident and fire
  statistics
• Uses information from consumer complaints
• Uses information from regular inspections by
  field inspectors
• Takes into account results from previous
  investigations
• Weighs also concerns in society and political
  concerns
• Takes into account the possibilities of the
  organization

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Short term program

• Leads to
• Capacity division between the main terrains
• Machines
• Electrical products
• Gas appliances
• GPSD products
• Toys
• Playground equipment and amusement rides

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Operational activity program
Short term program (1 year)

• This leads to activity program
• Detailed project descriptions
• Detailed description of activities.
• Which products, where to inspect, how many
  inspections, how many samples and which samples
• What to test

Operational Activity program
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Market surveillance Activity program
Short term program (1 year)
Operational Activity program

• Prioritizing for product safety

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Activity program

• Detailed project descriptions
• Detailed description of activities.
• Which products, where to inspect, how many
  inspections, how many samples and which samples,
  which tests

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Objectives

• Product safety
• Commonly Accepted as the main criterion for
  prioritization
• GPSD
• Consumer protection
• Level Playing field
• Important for trade and industry
• Fair competition

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Prioritization

• AIM optimum contribution to increased consumer
  protection with available resources
• Variables to consider
• Economic operators
• Market surveillance methods
• Products
• Selection of inspection items and tests

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Economic operatorsWho has to comply?

• According to LVD
• First Importers into EU (small scale, large
  scale)
• Manufacturers in the EU (small, large)
• According GPSD
• Distributors
• Retailers (small, large, chains), anybody who
  trades

Economic operators
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Surveillance at the source

• Manufacturer or EU importer
• Maximum effect EU-wide
• Distributor (or importer in Member State)
• Maximum effect in Member State
• Distributors lower in chain
• Retail chains
• Retailers

Economic operators
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Who complies and why

• Ignorant Compliers
• Spontaneous Compliers
• Conscious Compliers
• Deliberate Breakers
• Ignorant Breakers

Economic operators
(expert estimate for small cafeterias take-away
restaurants in NL)
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What is influenced by Market Surveillance?
Spontaneous Compliance Sanction Dimensions
Control Dimensions Knowledge of the rules
Sanction Probability Control
Probability Cost Benefit Sanction
severity Detection Probability Level of
Acceptance Quality of the rules
Selectivity Loyalty of the target group
Informal Control
Economic operators

No or minimal Influence Indirect
Influence Direct Influence
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Interventions

• Ignorant breakers and compliers
• Communication on requirements
• Enforcement communication
• Compliance assistance
• Breakers
• Enforcement communication
• Enforcement
• Sanctions

Economic operators
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Prioritization

• AIM optimum contribution to increased consumer
  protection with available resources
• Variables to consider
• Economic operators
• Market surveillance methods (enforcement)
• Products
• Selection of inspection items and tests

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1Inspection of compliance with administrative
requirements

• Inspection of compliance with administrative
  requirements
• CE marking
• declaration of conformity
• Third party certification when required
• Advantages
• Simple, fast and cheap
• No equipment required
• No laboratory investigation required
• Inspectors need not be highly trained
• Disadvantages
• Inspection does not really focus on product
  deficiencies
• Not directly linked to product safety

Market surveillance methods
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2Product inspections in the field

• Limited inspection and tests of products during
  inspection by a field inspector
• Advantages
• Zooms in on shortcomings in the product
• May aim at shortcomings that present hazards
• Disadvantages
• Possibilities for testing in the field are
  limited
• Requires better trained inspectors
• Quality assurance procedures not as good as in
  the lab

Market surveillance methods
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Product inspection in the field Example
Market surveillance methods 2

• Project wall and ceiling mounted luminaires
• Why field tests
• Many shortcomings in previous investigations
• Potentially hazardous (fire risk electrical
  risks)
• many companies involved, small and big
• Numerous different types on offer
  (hundreds-thousands).
• Need to test large numbers of luminaires to make
  an visible impression on the trade.

Market surveillance methods
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product inspection in the fieldwall and
ceiling mounted luminaires

• Selection of legal requirements (labelling)
  and standard requirements.
• Requirements should be easy to test and
  require little or no equipment.
• EN 60598-1, par. 3.2 Marking (CE, brand,
  wattage)
• EN 60598-1, par. 3.3. Additional information
  (instructions for the proper and safe use
  language)
• EN 60598-1, par. 4.3 Wireways smooth and free
  from sharp edges, burrs, ..
• EN 60598-1, par. 5.2.10 cord anchorage
• electrical safety by test finger

Market surveillance methods
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product inspection in the fieldwall and
ceiling mounted luminaires

• Determine which legal sanctions to take for each
  shortcoming
• Proportionality principle
• Consistency
• Determine which companies will be inspected
• large retail chains (bulk of sales)
• Training of field inspectors
• technical training to recognize shortcomings
• Consistency in interpretation of the requirements
• Legal training

Market surveillance methods
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product inspection in the fieldwall and
ceiling mounted luminaires

• Results
• Appr. 60 inspections
• 48.000 luminaires blocked (sent back to importer
  / manufacturer)
• Percentage non compliances down from appr 30 to
  8 when checked in a second round of
  inspections

Market surveillance methods
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3Inspections laboratory testing

• For example luminaires international project
• Advantages
• Gives a more detailed impression of conformity
• Can be aimed at safety relevant tests
• Disadvantages
• Requires expensive laboratory testing
• For the same resources less product inspections

Market surveillance methods
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4Inspection of conformity assessment and
certification files

• For example
• Gas appliances Directive requires
  certification by a notified body. This leads to
  a file of the design of the appliance and the
  tests performed to assess its conformity.
• Advantages
• Inspection of this file avoids doing the
  expensive laboratory tests
• Thorough design and conformity check can be done
• Plays also role in the assessment of the notified
  body
• Disadvantages
• Requires highly specific up to date knowledge of
  the products involved and therefore highly
  trained inspectors
• Time intensive

Market surveillance methods
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Prioritization

• AIM optimum contribution to increased consumer
  protection with available resources
• Variables to consider
• Economic operators
• Market surveillance methods (enforcement)
• Products
• Selection of inspection items and tests

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Prioritizing products

• Typically projects are chosen based on the
  following criteria
• Risk assessment of the product types
• Analysis of accident and fire statistics
• Information from consumer complaints
• Information from regular inspections by field
  inspectors
• Results from previous investigations
• Concerns in society and political concerns
• Analysis of RAPEX Article 9 Notifications
• And
• Market information (brands, manufacturers, market
  penetration, etc.)
• Consumer exposure

Products
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Prioritizing productsArt. 9 and RAPEX
notifications
Products
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Prioritization

• AIM optimum contribution to increased consumer
  protection with available resources
• Variables to consider
• Economic operators
• Market surveillance methods (enforcement)
• Products
• Selection of inspection items and tests

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Selection of inspection items and tests

• Administrative requirements
• Safety relevant tests from standard
• MS is not conformity assessment not necessary to
  test all standard requirements
• Select safety relevant tests from the standard
  based on
• Previous knowledge of frequency of non compliance
• Costs
• Ease of test

Inspection items and test
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Example Cross border project Luminaires 2006

• First large scale joint market surveillance
  project for the LVD
• Organized by LVD ADCO
• Project management the Netherlands
• Participants 15

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Why Luminaires?

• Risks electric shock fire risk
• Accident statistics
• Hardly accidents involving lighting some mention
  of fires, caused by proximity to bed clothing
• High percentages of non conformity
• From previous investigations (in NL up to 40)
• Many notifications in CIRCA and RAPEX (the
  European information exchange systems)
• Within the possibilities of the organizations

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Scope

• luminaries falling within the scope of EN 60598,
  part 1, 1.2.9 portable luminaires
• That is portable luminaire luminaire, which, in
  normal use, can be moved from one place to
  another while connected to the supply.
• Not wall- or ceiling mounted and trafo-fed
  luminaires
• Reason increased complexity with wider scope

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Which requirements tested?

• EN 60598-12004 Luminaires- General requirements
  and tests
• EN 60598-Part 2 1997 Luminaires Particular
  requirements -Section 4  Portable general
  purpose luminaires
• Selection of requirements that are safety
  relevant.
• Tests of the requirements should be within the
  possibilities of the laboratories
• Test should be inexpensive
• Previous experience taken into account.

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Test requirements
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Phasing of the action

• Market orientation
• Identification of EU importers and manufacturers
• Collect information on market shares, etc
• Sampling and Administrative requirements
• Select businesses for sampling,
• collect samples and
• Check administrative requirements
• CE marking, DOC, technical file if present.
• Testing against the standard requirements
• Reporting

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Results

• A total of 226 luminaires was investigated
• Main results see beneath.

P pass F1 minor shortcoming F2 shortcoming
F3 serious shortcoming
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More information

• PROSAFE publication
• Best Practice techniques in Market Surveillance
• Downloadable from

http//www.prosafe.org/read_write/file/EMARS_Best_
Practice_Book.pdf