European Regulation of Consumer Product Safety

Christopher Hodges is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Oxford, and Partner at CMS Cameron McKenna.

• Table of Legislation ; Table of Cases ; List of Figures ; List of Tables ; List of Abbreviations ; Introduction ; 1. Theoretical aspects of regulation ; PART ONE: DESCRIPTION OF THE MAIN REGULATORY SYSTEMS AT COMMUNITY LEVEL ; 2. Introduction ; 3. The limits on the Community's jurisdictional competence in product safety legislation ; 4. Medicinal products ; 5. New Approach products ; 6. Biocides, cosmetics, tobacco, and general consumer products ; PART TWO: PROCEDURAL MECHANISMS FOR SAFETY ; 7. Introduction ; 8. Pre-market assessment: authorization to market ; 9. Control of the manufacturing environment and process ; 10. Providing information ; 11. Producers' Post-marketing obligations ; 12. The role of the authorities in post-marketing safety ; 13. Control of distribution ; 14. Obligations on users ; 15. Conclusions on safety mechanisms ; PART THREE: THEORETICAL ISSUES AND CONCLUSIONS ; 16. Introduction ; 17. The Community institutions involved and their mechanisms of governance ; 18. Safety and risk ; 19. Conclusions ; APPENDICES ; Appendix 1 The Pharmacovigilance System ; Appendix 2 Statistics on the safety of general consumer products ; Appendix 3 Statistics on the safety of medicinal products ; Appendix 4 Statistics on the safety of electrical products ; Appendix 5 Modules for conformity assessment procedures under the New Approach ; BIBLIOGRAPHY ; INDEX

Christopher Hodges has been an inside practitioner in the field of consumer products safety. He has blended those unique insights with academic research to produce a thought provoking book. His vision of a more coherent regulatory structure with informed and balanced debates about what safety standards best suit the European market is a model that has much to commend itself. Hopefully this work will encourage regulators to bear these principles in mind.