VALLETTA – On May 19-20, Malta will host a seminar on market surveillance, bringing together representatives from the Western Balkans, Turkey and the European Neighbourhood Policy partners. The gathering marks the twentieth anniversary of European Commission’s institution building instrument, TAIEX. Malta will be holding the Presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2017 and this event will add to the ongoing preparations towards this important milestone.
Hon Dr Ian Borg, Maltese Parliamentary Secretary for the EU Presidency 2017 will open the seminar together with the European Commission representatives, Dr Elena Grech, Head of EC Representation in Malta and Heike Gerstbrein, Head of Institution Building Unit TAIEX, Twinning.
Focussing on the challenges and best practice in the field of market surveillance, the participants will discuss the road Malta took from a candidate country to a Member State, having first benefitted from technical assistance, now providing it.
Market surveillance is essential to protect consumers and prevent unsafe products to enter the market. Member States are responsible for the market surveillance for non-food consumer products and consumer protection can only be ensured by efficient national authorities which enforce properly the package of EU legislation and standards.
TAIEX is the European Commission’s Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument. Its aim is to provide candidates and potential candidates for EU membership, and the EU’s eastern and southern neighbours, with technical know-how and legislative expertise. TAIEX organises workshops, expert missions or study visits so that experts from the EU Member States’ public administrations can pass on tailor-made expertise to address short-term institutional or capacity-building needs.
TAIEX Library: http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/taiex/dyn/taiex-events/library/detail_en.jsp?EventID=61867
More information on TAIEX: http://ec.europa.eu/taiex