IMCO Draft report on the NLF

We received and read with great interest the European Parliament, Committee of Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), draft report “on a new legislative framework for products that is fit for the digital and sustainable transition” (2024/2119(INI)). We welcome that the IMCO looks at the New Legislative Framework (NLF) and would like to provide perspective on a few critical clauses of the draft.

We strongly support the successful and well-established approach of having legal requirements and safety objectives laid down in legal acts and delegating the development of harmonised European standards as one option for fulfilling these requirements to the private sector. Presumption of conformity has proven to be a very effective but also cost-effective way for demonstrating compliance with the law and working with market surveillance authorities. We strongly recommend that this approach be kept and further refined.

We support adaptations to the NLF for allowing the full integration of new regulated domains into the NLF. We believe that a close consultation of and dialogue with the industry will be of high value for any further development of possible adaptations of well-established processes under the NLF.