Chapter VIII, market surveillance of products and Union safeguard procedure
Article 20: Procedure at national level for dealing with products not complying
A member state evaluates a suspect product, requires correction within a reasonable period, then withdraws it if correction fails, and tells the Commission and other states where the issue crosses borders.
- Citation
- Article 20, CELEX 32019L0882 (Directive)
- Binds
- Market surveillance authorities and the economic operator concerned.
- In the instrument
- Chapter VIII, market surveillance of products and Union safeguard procedure
- Applies from
- 28 June 2025 for products placed and services provided from that date (Article 31(2)). The Article 4(8) 112 duty may be deferred to 28 June 2027 where a member state uses Article 31(3).
- Source
- EUR-Lex, CELEX 32019L0882
What it requires
Paragraph 1 sets the sequence. Where an authority has sufficient reason to believe a product does not comply, it evaluates the product against all the requirements. The operator must cooperate fully. If non-compliance is found, the authority requires corrective action within a reasonable period matched to the nature of the failure. Withdrawal is required only if adequate correction is not made in that period.
Paragraph 2 requires the authority to notify the Commission and the remaining member states where it considers the non-compliance is not confined to its own territory, giving the evaluation and the action required. Paragraph 3 requires the operator to take the corrective action for every affected product it has made available throughout the Union.
Paragraphs 4 to 8 cover provisional measures, the information that must accompany them, the three-month period in which an objection makes a measure unjustified, and the duty to take restrictive measures without delay. For the operator the practical content is a corrective-action plan, a Union-wide scope and a documented dialogue with the authority.
In practice
A corrective-action plan needs a scope statement, an owner, a dated action and a closure test. The scope statement is the part most often missing: it should say which models, batches and member states are affected and why. The authority will compare that scope with its own list of units on the market.
What to do
- Cooperate fully with the evaluation and answer within the period set.
- Agree a corrective-action plan with owners and dates.
- Apply the remedy to every affected product across the Union, not only the member state that asked.
- Record the withdrawal decision and its trigger where correction fails.
Evidence to keep
- The authority evaluation and the operator's response.
- The corrective-action plan with completion evidence.
- The Union-wide affected-product list.
- The withdrawal or recall record.
Dates
- 2025-06-28The procedure applies as the requirements apply. (Article 31(2))
Cross-references
Where teams get this wrong
Correcting the batch in the member state that raised the complaint is not enough. The article requires action on all affected products made available throughout the Union.
Read from the Official Journal text of Directive (EU) 2019/882, OJ L 151/70, 7 June 2019, Article 20. Check it yourself: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019L0882. This page states the provision in our own words and is not legal advice; it does not certify any product or service.