FEM secretary general Olivier Janin and his industry colleagues urge EU member states to agree on market surveillance.

FEM and its machinery industry partners (CECE, CECIMO, CEMA and EUROMAP) have written to EU member states' representatives urging them to agree on finalising the market surveillance dossier before the European Parliament elections.

The issue is currently blocked in the EU Council because of the "marking of origin" provision (Forkliftaction.com News #651).

In the joint letter, the industry representatives wrote: "Without judging the merits of the 'marking of origin' provision or its relevance to consumer products' safety, our associations find it unacceptable that it brings the MSPR (market surveillance of products regulation) to a stalemate, thus making our companies collateral victims. In the meanwhile, they continue to face major problems due to unfair competition with (non-conforming) products on the EU market.

"This is the reason why the industry is calling on the Greek presidency of the European Council and all the member states to multiply their efforts to find an agreement in order to finalise the dossier within the current term. However, the current urgency should not be used as an excuse for watering down some good provisions, which the industry has supported in the past months.

"CECE, CECIMO, CEMA, EUROMAP and FEM wish to highlight that any further delay on this file will only negatively impact on users' safety, environmental protection and European companies' competitiveness."

The letter was signed by CECE secretary general, Ralf Wezel; CECIMO secretary general, Filip Geerts; CEMA secretary general, Ulrich Adam; EUROMAP secretary general, Thorsten Kühmann; and FEM secretary general Olivier Janin.
CECE is the Committee of European Construction Equipment that represents and promotes the European construction equipment and related industries in order to achieve a fair competitive environment via harmonised standards and regulations.

CECIMO is the European Association of the Machine Tool Industries that unites 15 national associations of machine tool builders, which represent about 1,500 industrial enterprises in Europe.

CEMA is the European association representing the agricultural machinery industry.

EUROPMAP is Europe's association for plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers, with almost 3,700 companies, which have about 100,000 employees.

FEM is the European Materials Handling Federation, which represents, defends and promotes European manufacturers of materials handling, lifting and storage equipment.