§9 INTERNATIONAL ASPECTS OF THE EU LEGISLATION ON PRODUCTS

In its relationships with third countries, the EU, among other things, endeavours to promote international trade in regulated products. Conditions for open trade include compatibility of approach, coherence of regulations and standards, transparency of rules, appropriate levels and means of regulation, impartiality in certification, compatibility of market surveillance measures and supervision practices, and an appropriate level of technical and administrative infrastructure. Accordingly, depending on the status of the above conditions, a broad variety of measures can be applied in order to facilitate trade. The expansion of the single market of products is pursued through several international legal instruments that enable the achievement of appropriate levels of cooperation, convergence or harmonisation of legislation and thus facilitate the free movement of goods. These instruments include: — full integration of the EEA EFTA countries in the internal market by virtue of the EEA agreement (319); — alignment of the legislative system and horizontal quality infrastructure of the Candidate countries with those of the EU. Candidate countries and potential candidates also have the possibility to join the EU quality infrastructure bodies, such as the relevant European Standardisation Organisations; — similar alignment by interested Eastern and Mediterranean Neighbouring countries by conclusion of bilateral Agreements on conformity assessment and acceptance of industrial products (ACAAs); — conclusion of bilateral (inter-governmental) Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) for conformity assessment, certificates and marking, which are intended to reduce the costs of testing and certification in other markets; — conclusion of a specific Protocol on conformity assessment in the framework of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiated with a third country; — reliance on the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (320); and — finally, alignment of standards between CEN and ISO - International Organization for Standards via the Vienna Agreement and CENELEC and IEC – International Electrotechnical Commission via the Frankfurt Agreement.

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