As experienced traders regularly tell us, it has long been known that non-compliance of products is always more expensive than the comparatively low cost of compliance for the individual product. A simple mathematical comparison shows that the supposedly low probability of enforcement by the authorities multiplied by the costs of, for example, a product recall or a customs suspension, generally lead to higher absolute costs than the comparatively small amounts in cents that product conformity costs per individual product in the large mass. Not to mention loss of reputation and damage to image in the event of actual personal injury. And which trader seriously wants to risk that people, especially children, are harmed by his products?
Nevertheless, what has frustrated many of our customers for years are the masses of free riders from third countries who simply ignore all the rules of product safety and legality and profit from lower costs in the process. In addition, consumers like to reach out for low-priced products due to the sharp rise in prices.
So it’s boom time for free riders? Not from the point of view of the e-systems group. After all, the EU is increasingly holding online marketplaces responsible for enforcing the law, which can hardly be done by the authorities, and they themselves are liable if they do not prevent non-compliant trade. The rush to the German packaging register on 1 July 2022 has impressively shown that this instrument works: If the marketplace only allows the offer if there is proof of the required registration, even eager and busy sellers from third countries will get into trouble.
This principle is continued in the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (WEEE Germany) as of 1 July 2023. Amazon has already demanded proof of WEEE registration from its sellers by 5 June 2023 (as reported by take-e-way). And for other product compliance issues, verification mechanisms such as Product Compliance Dashboards and requirements for product descriptions and photos of product and packaging labels are already in the pipeline.
From now on, those who do not suddenly become free riders themselves belong to the new market makers. This can happen quickly if, for example, own products are wrongly labelled or do not fulfil requirements that are not yet known to the seller. take-e-way and trade-e-bility offer numerous free webinars to inform about product compliance.
Whoever wants to know by June whether their own products meet the new requirements should quickly secure one of the coveted places at our Product Compliance webinar “Top 25 questions – How to stay compliant?”
Register now quickly here free of charge: https://www.trade-e-bility.de/academy/
