Commission Decision of 16 December 2009 laying down guidelines for the management of the Community Rapid Information System ‘RAPEX’ established under Article 12 and of the notification procedure established under Article 11 of Directive 2001/95/EC (the General Product Safety Directive) (notified under document C(2009) 9843) (2010/15/EU) (repealed)

1. Background and objectives

Article 11 of the General Product Safety Directive establishes a notification procedure for the exchange of information between Member States and the Commission on measures taken in relation to consumer products posing a non-serious risk to the health and safety of consumers.

The Article 11 notification mechanism (despite similarities and links) should be treated as an independent procedure that is separate from the notification procedure established under Article 12 of the GPSD (‘RAPEX’).

The Article 11 notification procedure has two main objectives:

• To help the internal market to operate

  The first objective of the Article 11 notification procedure is to ensure that the Commission is informed about measures adopted by national authorities that restrict the marketing on the EU market of products posing a non-serious risk to the health and safety of consumers.

  This objective is similar to the objective of the safeguard clause procedure established under sectoral directives, which aims to ensure that the Commission is kept informed of preventive and restrictive measures adopted by national authorities and can assess whether the restriction to the free movement of the notified product complies with EU legislation and does not unduly infringe the free movement of goods. The Article 11 notification procedure complements the safeguard clause procedure and ensures that the Commission is kept informed of preventive and restrictive measures adopted by national authorities that are not subject to the latter procedure.

• To prevent the marketing and use by consumers of dangerous products (not posing a serious risk)

  The second objective of the Article 11 notification procedure is to ensure that Member States can rapidly exchange information about products posing a non-serious risk to the health and safety of consumers and to prevent or restrict them from being marketed and used in the EU. This is similar to the objective of RAPEX, although RAPEX only covers products posing a serious risk to the health and safety of consumers.