FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Diane Bandon-Tourret and Agathe Clarac, LexCase
1.4 Obligations to Notify Regulatory Authorities One of the major innovations of the RGSP is the establishment of a harmonised recall procedure, which is initiated by the economic operator who has identified a product that does not comply with the requirements. Operators must alert consumers and authorities. • After identifying the risk, which requires pro - cessing reports from multiple sources, opera - tors must now inform the authorities via the Safety Business Gateway portal and consum - ers by all appropriate means. • The use of customer data is permitted in accordance with the General Data Protec - tion Regulation for direct contact. If this is not possible, communication must be carried out through alternative channels: (a) websites; (b) social networks; (c) points of sale; and (d) mass media. Economic operators must also provide consum - ers with a recall notice containing mandatory information, including a clear description of the product, the hazards associated with its use, the measures to be taken by consumers, the rem - edies available, and the contact details of the economic operator responsible for the recall. Unless it is materially impossible, the economic operator shall offer the consumer at least the following options of compensation. • Repair of the product, only if the safety of the product can be guaranteed, with the neces - sary instructions and parts provided free of charge.
• Manufacturers must, in particular, ensure the conformity of their products from the design stage and throughout their availability on the market by carrying out internal analyses and ensuring product traceability and the reporting of incidents and information (via the new platform “Safety Business Gateway” ). They must provide and update all manda - tory technical documentation and ensure that their contact details are communicated to consumers so that they can receive any complaints, examine them, and archive them. Manufacturers may appoint an authorised representative to carry out these tasks. • The importer is required to place on the market only products that it considers safe and must therefore refuse to place on the market those that it considers not to meet the requirements. It also participates in the reporting of information. • The distributor also ensures that the manu - facturer and, where applicable, the importer act in accordance with the regulation. They also inform the other actors in the distribution chain via the dedicated system and, where necessary, ensure that the appropriate cor - rective measures are taken. • The supplier of an online marketplace is newly subject to specific obligations (includ - ing making available single points of contact for direct communication for market surveil - lance authorities and for the public). Market surveillance authorities may also order these providers to withdraw or make inaccessible the online interface or to display an explicit warning on dangerous products. They must respond to these government orders and third-party notifications as soon as possible and ensure that the withdrawn listings cannot reappear.
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