During a roundtable discussion organized on 20 March 2013 at the European Parliament in Brussels, the European coalition of machinery industry associations, represented by CECE, CECIMO, CEMA, FEM and EUROMAP, called on the European Parliament to fully support and further strengthen the Commission proposal for a new Regulation on Market Surveillance. During the discussions, there was widespread agreement that the legislative package presents a unique opportunity to finally achieve a level playing field in the Single Market and is a landmark initiative to support the EU's re-industrialization objective.
Whilst generally positive about the proposal, the coalition asked the European Parliament to help make it more ambitious and relevant to the problem of unfair competition that machinery producers are facing on an increasing basis in the Single Market. By ensuring compliance with EU legislation and eliminating unfair competition, more effective market surveillance will help safeguard the long-term competitiveness of the European machinery industry and protect vital public interests in the areas of health and safety, energy efficiency and environmental protection.
The European Commission, represented by Diego Canga Fano, Head of Cabinet of Vice- President Antonio Tajani and Members of the European Parliament Amalia Sartori, Ju?rgen Creutzmann, and Andreas Schwab affirmed that market surveillance is a shared responsibility and requires a high level of cooperation between Member States, the European Commission and industry which has a key consultative role to play. Moreover, it was highlighted that the Commission should assume a stronger role in the coordination of Member States' market surveillance programmes and the Union administrative cooperation framework. The proposal embeds such principles through a greater use of ICT tools and the creation of the European Market Surveillance Platform – EMSP.
Jan van der Velden, FEM President said: "As good as the EU framework set by the Regulation can and hopefully will be, market surveillance remains the task and competence of Member States. The system will only be fully effective if Member States are ready to commit the necessary human and financial resources."
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"We strongly believe that unlawful traders placing non-compliant products on the markets should bear the cost of the damage they cause." said Paul Burger (Hitachi Construction Machinery Europe), CECE Trade Policy Commission chairman.
Jarmo Hyvo?nen, CECIMO Vice-President, stressing the importance of establishing a Union framework for proportionate and deterrent sanctions, stated: "A certain level of approximation between sanctions in Member States should ensure that those who play unfairly are exposed to a similar level of risk on every spot of the Union's territories."
Giles Dryancour, CEMA President: "While the proposal presents a solid legal framework to tackle the specific market surveillance challenges for machinery producers, close cooperation between the authorities and manufacturers will be a key element to ensure we can make this legislation work in practice."
Highlighting the importance of stopping non-compliant imports at the point of entry, Luciano Anceschi, EUROMAP President stated: "The technical capacity and knowledge of customs authorities should be strengthened to carry out first conformity checks on imports. Moreover, it is of utmost important to establish tighter controls on the activities of notified bodies outside Europe."
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CECE - The Committee of European Construction Equipment is the recognised organisation representing and promoting the European construction equipment and related industries in order to achieve a fair competitive environment via harmonised standards and regulations. CECE is a European network consisting of a secretariat in Brussels and national association offices in 14 different European countries.The industry behind CECE comprises 1,200 companies. In 2011, these equipment manufacturers had a total turnover of 23 billion € and employed 130,000 people directly. European construction machines represent around 25% of the worldwide production. Manufacturers include large European and multinational companies with production sites in Europe, but the majority of companies are small or medium-sized.
Contact: Ralf Wezel, Secretary General, ralf.wezel [at] cema-agri.org
CECIMO is the European Association of the Machine Tool Industries. We bring together 15 national Associations of Machine Tool Builders, which represent approximately 1500 industrial enterprises in Europe*, over 80% of which are SMEs. CECIMO covers more than 97% of total Machine Tool production in Europe and more than one third worldwide. It accounts for almost 150,000 employees and a turnover of nearly €21 Billion in 2011. Three quarters of CECIMO production is shipped abroad, whereas more than half of it is exported outside Europe*. For more information visit www.cecimo.eu *Europe = EU + EFTA + Turkey Contact: Filip Geerts, Director General, filip.geerts [at] cecimo.eu
CEMA is the European association representing the agricultural machinery industry. For 50 years CEMA has acted as a network of national associations and provides services, advice and a common European industry view on relevant topics. The industry represented by CEMA includes 4,500 manufacturers of agricultural equipment employing directly 135,000 persons and indirectly in the distribution and service network another 125,000 persons. The companies are mainly small and medium-sized manufacturers according to the EU definition and in 2011 had a total turnover of 26 billion euro. Contact: Ulrich Adam, Secretary General, sg [at] cema-agri.org
EUROMAP is Europe' s Association for plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers is a major European industry with almost 3,700 companies which together have an annual turnover of more than 17 billion EURO and about 100,000 employees. EUROMAP covers the plastics and rubber machinery manufacturing industries in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Contact: Thorsten Ku?hmann, Secretary General, EUROMAP euromap [at] vdma.org
FEM created in 1953, is the European Materials Handling Federation (www.fem-eur.com) represents, defends and promotes European manufacturers of materials handling, lifting and storage equipment. FEM speaks for 15 members representing some 1,000 companies (mostly SMEs) employing 160,000 people directly and with an annual turnover of €45 billion (2008). Contact: Olivier Janin, Secretary General, olivier.janin [at] orgalime.org
Contact: Ralf Wezel, Secretary General, ralf.wezel [at] cema-agri.org
CECIMO is the European Association of the Machine Tool Industries. We bring together 15 national Associations of Machine Tool Builders, which represent approximately 1500 industrial enterprises in Europe*, over 80% of which are SMEs. CECIMO covers more than 97% of total Machine Tool production in Europe and more than one third worldwide. It accounts for almost 150,000 employees and a turnover of nearly €21 Billion in 2011. Three quarters of CECIMO production is shipped abroad, whereas more than half of it is exported outside Europe*. For more information visit www.cecimo.eu *Europe = EU + EFTA + Turkey Contact: Filip Geerts, Director General, filip.geerts [at] cecimo.eu
CEMA is the European association representing the agricultural machinery industry. For 50 years CEMA has acted as a network of national associations and provides services, advice and a common European industry view on relevant topics. The industry represented by CEMA includes 4,500 manufacturers of agricultural equipment employing directly 135,000 persons and indirectly in the distribution and service network another 125,000 persons. The companies are mainly small and medium-sized manufacturers according to the EU definition and in 2011 had a total turnover of 26 billion euro. Contact: Ulrich Adam, Secretary General, sg [at] cema-agri.org
EUROMAP is Europe' s Association for plastics and rubber machinery manufacturers is a major European industry with almost 3,700 companies which together have an annual turnover of more than 17 billion EURO and about 100,000 employees. EUROMAP covers the plastics and rubber machinery manufacturing industries in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Contact: Thorsten Ku?hmann, Secretary General, EUROMAP euromap [at] vdma.org
FEM created in 1953, is the European Materials Handling Federation (www.fem-eur.com) represents, defends and promotes European manufacturers of materials handling, lifting and storage equipment. FEM speaks for 15 members representing some 1,000 companies (mostly SMEs) employing 160,000 people directly and with an annual turnover of €45 billion (2008). Contact: Olivier Janin, Secretary General, olivier.janin [at] orgalime.org
