3.2 Market Surveillance Process
Where market surveillance activity is being considered, an authorised officer should carry out a compliance assessment to verify whether a product complies with the requirements of the applicable legislation i.e., CPR 2011 and CPR 2024. These may include Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and S.I. No. 669 of 2025, as applicable.
The Market Surveillance Authority does not issue a compliance statement or confirmation which could be seen as endorsing a product. When assessing the compliance of a product, the Market Surveillance Authority may choose to consider all relevant legislative requirements (a full compliance assessment) or parts of them (a partial compliance assessment). The compliance assessment may be divided between ’Formal’ compliance (administrative requirements e.g. documentation, markings, etc.) and ’Technical’ compliance.
The Market Surveillance Process/Description is summarised in the following flowchart;
The following section outlines some practical approaches to market surveillance and is broken down into 5 broad stages, as follows:
Stage 1 Targeting:
- Preliminary market screening, desktop study, research, digital passport etc,
- Open Case including ICSMS
Stage 2 Sampling
- Initial site visits, inspections and marketplace sampling
Stage 3 Compliance Assessment
- Formal
- Technical
Stage 4 Follow-up actions and measures
- Corrective actions and statutory compliance notices
- Final site visits, verification inspections and laboratory follow-up
- Risk assessment, ICSMS logging and Union safeguard procedures
Stage 5 End
- Close out Reporting including ICSMS