Mario Zammit writes:
If a consumer purchases a product such as a mobile phone or a camcorder in an another EU member state, does he or she have the right to obtain the instruction manual in his or her own language?
Recently I purchased a handbag for my wife and it had a label stating: “Contains magnets and not suitable for customers with powered medical implants such as pacemakers”.
Surely if this were written in Dutch or Greek the average Maltese individual with a pacemaker would not have been able to read it. If a product contains health warnings, will these be provided in the citizen’s member state language?
Purchasing a product in another EU member state is a freedom that every EU citizen can enjoy. This is one of the great benefits of the European single market.
But does this mean that a Maltese citizen travelling in another EU country has the right to demand the product manual in one of the two official languages of Malta?
Not quite.
Imagine the freedom of having access to all products and services in the EU with manuals and safety notices in your own language.
As alluring as this may sound, it is not practical.
If this requirement were in force, every business, large or small, would have to provide the product manual and safety labelling in each of the EU’s 23 official languages. The costs would be prohibitive, especially for the smaller businesses and this is not required by EU law.
Consequently, if a Maltese person purchases a product in another EU country, the instructions may well be in Greek – if you are travelling in Greece – and there is no obligation to provide it in other languages.
So here it would be the responsibility of the client, the person buying the product, to obtain a translation of the safety warnings in a language that he understands.
Having said that, safety concerns are obviously an important facet of EU product safety law.
According to EU law, all products that are produced and put on the market for sale must not pose a threat. This includes any threat that may result from “the presentation of the product, the labelling, any warnings and instructions for its use and disposal”.
Therefore a product that is sold in Malta must be labelled in a way that avoids posing any threat to the Maltese consumers.
But does a handbag sold in Malta necessarily pose a threat to Maltese consumers? In itself not.
Nevertheless, in the case of products that could pose additional risks under certain conditions, the product must be labelled with “suitable, clearly worded and easily comprehensible warnings, in the official languages of the member state in which the product is marketed, on the risks it may present”.
Since the handbag in question contained elements that could be harmful if the consumer has a pacemaker, the labelling would have to be in English or Maltese if it is sold in Malta.
While the law leaves it up to the Maltese consumer to inform himself of the safety warnings on a product that is purchased in another EU country, the law prohibits the resale or even the donation of that same product by businesses in Malta, if the labelling does not meet the appropriate product safety requirements.
How can we make sure that all this is enforced in the best interest of consumers?
Well, national governments must put in place national laws that reflect the provisions of the relevant EU laws. And these must be enforced by a specially designated national authority – in our case, the Malta Standards Authority.
On their part, manufacturers and distributors have the obligation to produce and supply products that comply with general safety requirements. And they must also alert the competent authorities when a product is found to be unsafe.
On its part, the European Commission manages a Rapid Information System (Rapex) which provides for the rapid exchange of information between the national authorities and the Commission, including on unsafe products.
Thus, if for instance, a handbag is exported to Italy with labelling in Greek and the Italian authorities recognise the threat to pacemakers, the Maltese authorities would also be alerted through this system in order to prevent the sale of this product in Malta; unless action is taken to translate the labels into English or Maltese.
www.simonbusuttil.eu
Dr Busuttil is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.