§7.6.3 Mutual assistance, Administrative Cooperation and the EU product compliance network

— The cooperation between national market surveillance authorities is indispensable for the success of the market surveillance policy of the Union as a whole. — Mutual assistance, Administrative Cooperation groups (ADCOs) and the EU Product Compliance Network constitute essential tools. — The cooperation of Member States is facilitated by the use of specific IT platforms for exchange of information. Technical harmonisation has created a single market, where products move across national borders, while market surveillance is carried out on a national basis. This requires smooth cooperation to ensure uniform and efficient enforcement of Union legislation in all Member States. The obligation to cooperate is in line with Article 20 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) which states that Member States must take all appropriate measures to fulfil their obligations. Detailed provisions on cooperation are included in Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, in particular on bilateral mutual assistance, multilateral sectorial administrative cooperation and by the establishment of an EU Product Compliance Network that facilitates EU-wide cross-sectorial cooperation, to address common challenges and to spread good surveillance practice and techniques across the Union. Administrative cooperation calls for mutual trust and transparency between national surveillance authorities. Member States and the Commission need to be informed about the national authorities in charge of market surveillance for the different product sectors and about the compliance checks they carry out. Such information is shared through the Information and Communication System for Market Surveillance (ICSMS) (308). Information exchanged between national surveillance authorities has to be treated according to the principles of confidentiality and of professional and commercial secrecy. Further, personal data shall be protected in accordance with EU and national law. Where a Member State has rules permitting free access by persons to information held by surveillance authorities, this fact must be revealed at the time of the request to another surveillance authority, or during the exchange of information if no such request occurs. If the sending authority indicates that the information involves matters of professional or commercial confidentiality, the receiving authority should ensure that this can be provided for. Otherwise the sending authority is entitled to withhold the information.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07