The EU is a major trading partner of our country. The EU CE mark, as an important passport for exporting to the EU, has always been regarded as the "passport" for manufacturers to open and enter the European market. It is also the most important and fundamental security line for the EU to prevent the import of unqualified products. According to current regulations, industrial products sold in the EU market must bear the CE mark, otherwise they cannot be marketed for sale. Many important EU directives, such as the Toy Directive (88/378/EEC), Machinery Directive (98/37/EEC), and Low Voltage Directive (73/23/EEC, 2006/95/EC), require CE marking.

In 2008, the European Union introduced two regulations, 765/2008/EC and 768/2008/EC, aimed at strict CE marking certification requirements to ensure product safety. The prominent focus of the new law is to strengthen market supervision of the CE mark, with specific measures including: strengthening the responsibility of customs at EU ports to inspect the conformity of imported goods; The qualification assessment activities for products with CE marking shall be carried out by designated assessment agencies, and the authorized assessment agencies shall notify the EU member states of the procedures. It is stipulated that each member state shall have only one assessment agency, and its assessment notification shall be valid for the entire European region; Define the responsibilities of manufacturers, distributors, and importers, and refine the different modules of the conformity assessment process. In addition, the new law also imposes strict regulations on the size of the CE mark, requiring that all components of the CE mark must have the same vertical size, not less than 5 millimeters. Regardless of whether the CE mark is reduced or enlarged, any slight difference from the original proportion regulation will be considered as misuse and will be subject to strict legal action by member states. After the implementation of the new regulations, customs procedures, authorization policies, and market supervision measures must be ready by January 1, 2010. From this, it can be seen that the EU's improvement of CE certification standards will have a comprehensive and far-reaching impact on domestic manufacturers.

However, the implementation of the new regulations is imminent, and many domestic export enterprises have not paid enough attention to it. In addition, the author has found in years of inspection work that many enterprises have certain misconceptions about the CE mark:

1、 Some companies believe that the CE mark is only a safety mark and only focuses on the safety requirements of the product, which is far from being a safety requirement. Products with the CE mark indicate compliance with a series of European directives such as safety, hygiene, environmental protection, and consumer protection. For example, a refrigerator exported to the European Union must comply with LVD, EMC, ROHS, and WEEE directives.

2、 Products that should have been affixed with the CE mark were not affixed, resulting in the goods being detained or even destroyed upon arrival at the EU port.

3、 Incorrect affixing of CE markings, including affixing CE markings that do not meet requirements and affixing CE markings to products that should not have been affixed, will be subject to EU penalties after the implementation of new regulations.

4、 The product has been marked with CE, but has not undergone the qualification assessment process, resulting in the product being officially notified by the EU after entering the EU market due to non-compliance with the requirements of the harmonized standards. In fact, coordinated standards are developed by the European Organization for Standardization, and products that meet these standards can be considered as meeting the basic requirements of EU directives. Most products exported to Europe can find applicable coordination standards, and after the implementation of new regulations, qualification assessment activities must be completed by designated assessment agencies.

For this reason, the inspection and quarantine department suggests that relevant enterprises: firstly, raise crisis awareness, actively understand the latest regulations, policies, and trends of the European Union, especially pay attention to understanding the relevant provisions of the CE mark, and prevent the abuse and misuse of the CE mark; Secondly, guided by the market, we will increase our research and development efforts, develop products with high technological content, low energy consumption, and low pollution, and enhance our ability to respond to EU green barriers; Thirdly, timely CE certification should be carried out for exported products within the scope of EU directives to ensure that the products meet EU requirements; Fourthly, in terms of environmental protection and safety awareness, as well as production technology, we need to identify and fill in gaps. From the traceability of raw materials to finished products and the safety and hygiene of the production process, to the details such as the size and shape of the CE mark on product labels, all of which must comply with the EU CE certification requirements to effectively avoid export risks.