The Bill (Reg.No.1365) proposes to institute legal, organisational and economic instruments for Market Surveillance, suggesting that the State scrutinises products put into circulation, to ensure they conform to prescribed technical regulations, that the National Conformance mark is lawfully attached, and that the information on the product is complete and true, etc.
A System of Market Surveillance and Consumers´ Protection Bodies will be set up within the Central Executive body dealing with Economic Policy. This system will embrace the Central Surveillance and Consumer Protection Body and its territorial agencies.
The major functions of Market Surveillance and Consumer Protection Bodies, according to the Bill, shall include ‘Market Surveillance and Consumer Protection (the combination of these two functions in a single body is typical of many European Union countries).´
Also, in line with European practice, it is suggested that the market surveillance instrument is not applied to services and works, since the Bill sponsors state that, ‘licensing procedures are a more effective instrument for providing the safety of services and works´.
Committee members highlighted the shift to the European principle of primary inspection for the safety of products already placed on the market (i.e. inspection of sellers and suppliers) as a significant aspect of the Bill. Manufacturers of products must be inspected only in the event that hazardous products have been revealed in the market, and where such an inspection is deemed necessary.
Committee members consider that the passing of this Bill will allow an effective surveillance system to be put in place in Ukraine, in line with European and worldwide practices, and improve efficiency in safeguarding Consumer Rights for products that are free of risk.