DGAP-News: Noerr LLP: Tighter surveillance of b2b and b2c goods - federal government introduces draft amendment to Product Safety Act
(firmenpresse) - DGAP-News: Noerr LLP / Key word(s): Legal Matter
Noerr LLP: Tighter surveillance of b2b and b2c goods - federal
government introduces draft amendment to Product Safety Act
02.02.2011 / 11:38
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Companies must anticipate even tighter surveillance of their products. This
is the conclusion drawn by Rechtsanwalt Dr. Thomas Klindt, Professor for
European product safety and partner at Noerr LLP, from a government draft
of an amendment to the German Product Safety Act (ProdSG).
An important change affects all manufacturers and importers of b2b
products. If the amendment is passed, the authorities must place warnings
about safety risks from such products on the Internet. Consumer goods can
be condemned in the EU rapid alert system RAPEX which is accessible
throughout the world. 'An entry in the RAPEX system will be a problem for
businesses especially if a product is entered in the on-line page without
justification', said Klindt. 'Legal protecton against that is complicated.'
The legislator's reaction to e-commerce is to clearly include online
trading in the surveillance. 'E-commerce does not operate outside the law
even with regard to product safety and consumer protection', said the
Kassel university professor.
Penalties will also be increased. The present maximum of 30,000 Euro is
intended to be increased to 50,000 Euro. The penalty alone will not deter a
company, comments the Munich lawyer. But the penalty proceedings also carry
the additional risk of seizure of profits. 'The authorities will inspect
the company's books and seize the profit achieved by the company with the
unsafe profit', said Klindt. In addition, completely new penalties will be
introduced e.g. if no user instructions in German are supplied with the
product or if details of the manufacturer are not shown on consumer goods.
Even more dangerous for businesses, although unchanged in comparison to the
present Appliance and Product Safety Act (GPSG), is the officially ordered
sales prohibition for certain products and the officially orderd product
recall which mean that firstly revenue collapses, then major costs for a
product recall, mostly on an international basis, are threatened. The
source for the consequences of expensive enforcement measures is often the
company itself. Whoever manufactures or imports unsafe products and
recognises them as such must report this to the authorities throughout the
EU in all countries supplied. Failure to do so may also be penalised.
The new ProdSG is the result of EC Regulation No. 765/2008. 'This
illustrates once again how clearly the German economy is influenced by
European consumer protection regulations' said Klindt, who is also a member
of the consumer commisison of the Bavarian state government.
Dr. Michael Neumann, MBA
Rechtsanwalt
Head of Business Development&Communications
Noerr LLP
Brienner Str. 28
80333 Muenchen / Germany
T +49 89 28628226
F +49 89 280110
M +49 171 1251428
michael.neumann(at)noerr.com
End of Corporate News
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02.02.2011 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a
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110889 02.02.2011
Datum: 02.02.2011 - 11:38 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 33122
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