EU cooperation and public databases

EU cooperation and public databases

Products with digital elements are often developed, sold and used in several countries. Surveillance authorities therefore cooperate across the EU to share inspection and testing results, coordinate cases and apply the rules consistently.

AdCo and cooperation between authorities

Administrative Cooperation Groups (AdCos) bring together market-surveillance experts for particular sectors or legislation. The term “ADCO CRA” is used for CRA coordination; cooperation may include common methods and priorities, coordinated inspections and sharing results.

Public information about the coordination group’s membership and working methods may be limited; use current European Commission sources.

ICSMS

ICSMS is the EU information and communication system for market surveillance. Authorities use it to share information about investigated non-food products, findings and measures.

Its public area allows consumers, users and manufacturers to search published product and authority information. It does not contain internal exchanges or every confidential document. The absence of a record is therefore not proof that a product has not been examined or is risk-free.

Safety Gate

Safety Gate is the EU rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products. The public can search daily alerts published by national authorities.

Not every CRA case must appear in Safety Gate. Publication depends on the legal basis, the nature of the risk and the rules of the system concerned.

What cross-border coordination means for an economic operator

Where the affected product was made available in several Member States, corrective action may need to cover every affected product in the Union. Maintain version, batch, distribution-partner and market data, and coordinate user communications across languages and countries.