China has been deceiving European consumers for two decades with a false quality seal

The object of this mischief is personal hygiene items, toys, appliances, furniture, office supplies… anything that someone can think of, and The trick that manufacturers use is a false CE seal, almost identical to the official one.

Appearing in 2006 by means of a Parliament and Council Directive, the CE logo, from the French ‘Conformité Européenne’indicates that an article meets the minimum safety guarantees required in the European Economic Area and therefore can be marketed within it. As Juan Rubén de la Cruz, a Legálitas lawyer specialized in commercial law, explained to ABC, the Administration does not carry out quality examinations prior to granting the seals, with the companies themselves proving that they meet the conditions. By doing so, they assume the responsibility that what they offer is in line with the safety, health or environmental protection requirements, among others, required by community directives and regulations.

For what is manufactured within the Union, the seal is not mandatory in all cases – quality is taken for granted – but it is for what comes from outside. From there, and this is important, legally the authorities cannot prohibit the marketing of a product that has this ‘passport’.

The appearance of the China Export logo

Well, in 2006, and very opportunely, the China Export logo appeared in China. According to Rubén de la Cruz and the European Commission itself, which has ratified it on many occasions, It is evident that this brand has no other reason than to deceive the authorities and European consumers. Nobody knows what it means or what it certifies, only that its acronym is identical to the EU sealwith the only difference that in the ‘Conformité Européenne’ marking the two letters are separated – the space between them is equivalent to half of the letter C – and in the ‘China Export’ they are glued together.

As explained at the beginning, the authorities do not carry out quality control, so supervision of the correct use of the CE logo involves carrying out inspections, whether arbitrary or following the notification of a complainant – Rubén de la Cruz recalls that SMEs and self-employed people who feel they are victims of this unfair competition can file a complaint, and carry out customs controls.

But who to sue? Obviously The internal legislation of the Union does not concern manufacturerswhich in the case at hand are based in China, but to the importers and distributors, those Spanish companies whose name appears on the packaging of the products, recalls the Legálitas lawyer.

It is obvious that the controls are not being carried out with the zeal that they should, and it is enough to go to any Chinese bazaar in our country to see it. ABC has visited several of them in Madrid and all of them sold objects that bore the China Export logo, including lamps, makeup items, toys, headphones, etc.

The silence of the European Commission

This is a problem for two reasons, explains Rubén de la Cruz. First, because it represents unfair competition with European producers and with non-EU producers who do comply with the standards. And secondly and no less important, because it endangers the safety of consumers. This is especially the case for beauty products or items that use batteries, and even more so for toys; De la Cruz warns: «LChildren put them in their mouths and we don’t know what they are made of. or if they have pieces that can be swallowed.

It is surprising that such a crude pretense has lasted almost two decades now, but this is the case despite the fact that the European Commission and Parliament have been asked about it many times. Be that as it may, the Community Executive set a precedent in 2008 when, when asked in the Chamber, it limited itself to expressing that the States have to increase surveillance, something that has not worked too well. In 2017 the Italian Matteo Salvinithen an MEP, asked again, receiving the response that “the protection of intellectual property rights is a priority in the relations of the European Union with China” and a matter that “is regularly discussed in the dialogues” between the two.

Despite being an expert on the subject, De la Cruz admits not knowing why Brussels has not put a stop to this fraud yet; At most, he suspects that perhaps the fear of opening a trade war with the Asian giant was hidden behind this story.

If indeed this lawyer is right and the fear was that, perhaps a window of opportunity has opened for the Commission to remedy the problem, since the trade war has been on the table for months now. Everything was precipitated last June, when Ursula von der Leyen, president of the Commission, announced – through tariffs – the beginning of her crusade against Chinese electric vehicles. On October 4, member states decided to make those tariffs permanent, and Beijing responded by imposing a tax on European brandy and threatening to do the same with cars, pork, pork by-products and dairy.

It remains to be seen if this change in the political moment carries over to the problem of the CE logos. For now, the last one to raise his voice on this matter has been the Vox MEP Jorge Martín Frías. In a letter addressed to the Commission, Frías asked if the pertinent actions will be taken, for example modifying the current logo. “With its resignation from its functions, the Community Executive is putting the consumer at risk while promoting and supporting unfair practices, putting the work of manufacturers at risk,” the MEP explained to ABC.

The response of the European Commission has not been different from what it has given on previous occasions: «The legislation obliges Member States to ensure the correct application of the regime governing the CE marking and to take appropriate action in case of incorrect use. of the marking. That is to say, the community authorities trust the solution to this problem to a strategy that has not worked until now, surveillance by the States.