Public consultation on the New Legislative Framework

The EU Commission launched a public consultation on the New Legislative Framework, its set of rules for harmonized product regulation on the single market.

The New Legislative Framework (NLF) came into force in the EU in 2010. It is an overall concept for the unified product conformity assessment, the technical harmonization of the national legal regulations for certain product groups and the dismantling of trade barriers within the European single market.

Elements of the New Legislative Framework are the CE conformity assessment, over 20 different EU product directives, the CE marking, conformity assessment bodies, market surveillance authorities etc. 

In the announced public consultations, the Commission is asking for feedback regarding the whole system.  The evaluation is focusing on the new elements introduced by NLF (e.g. the common structure of conformity assessment modules, the new accreditation framework for notified bodies). It will also relate to its ongoing relevance and fitness for the purpose of the digital and green transition (circular economy). The evaluation will also consider to what extent the NLF has been able to accommodate recent market trends and other developments, such as frequent changes to products post-market placement (e.g. due to software updates and upgrades; AI and machine learning, and refurbishment and remanufacturing). 

All EU citizens are invited to express their views. In addition, this consultation is open to manufacturers and other economic operators that have obligations under any of the 23 pieces of legislation that have been aligned to the NLF, notified bodies and conformity assessment bodies and any other associations of stakeholders or experts on EU product legislation. 

The public consultation is available until 7 March 2022 under the following link.