4.0 Miscellaneous
4.1 Market Surveillance Forum
4.1.1 In Ireland, responsibility for the implementation of Union harmonisation legislation is dispersed across various Government Departments and State agencies. There is no central body with sole overall responsibility for all market surveillance sectors, and there is no single piece of overarching domestic market surveillance legislation. Typically, responsibility for the implementation of Union harmonisation legislation is allocated to Government Departments in accordance with the broad scope of their administrative and technical activities, with the National Building Control & Market Surveillance Office (NBCMSO) driving consistent cross-authority enforcement specifically for construction products.
4.1.2 To fulfil the statutory requirements of Article 10 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, which mandates the establishment of communication, cooperation, and coordination mechanisms between market surveillance authorities at the national level, Ireland operates a national Market Surveillance Forum (MSF). The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) acts as the designated National Liaison Office (NLO) to coordinate this cross departmental structure. The Market Surveillance Forum, which meets quarterly to harmonise risk assessment practices and enforcement tactics, comprises representatives from the current state bodies and restructured government sectors, including:
- Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE),
- Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM),
- Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC),
- Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH),
- Department of Justice,
- Department of Transport,
- Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg),
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
- Health and Safety Authority (HSA),
- Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA, formerly the Irish Medicines Board),
- Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), and
- National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI).
4.1.3 The establishment of the Market Surveillance Forum has provided a central means by which information and experience on market surveillance in Ireland can be shared by competent authorities across the sphere of Union harmonisation legislation. The Forum has provided the individual sectors with a common platform for discussion and facilitated communication between competent authorities on common issues. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE) provides the official secretariat role to the Market Surveillance Forum and also communicates guidance from the European Union’s Expert Group on Market Surveillance (ADCO networks and cross-border enforcement groups).
4.1.4 Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 requires each Member State of the European Union to draw up a comprehensive national market surveillance strategy at least every 4 years. This strategy must be communicated to the European Commission, logged into the ICSMS system, and made available to the public, covering either a general overarching national framework or sector-specific enforcement programmes. Ireland’s National Market Surveillance Strategy and sector-specific execution plans (including construction products infrastructure) are actively compiled by the NLO and DETE, and remain accessible to the public on the European Commission’s dedicated single-market repository via: