Erhvervsudvalget 2024-25
ERU Alm.del Bilag 299
Offentligt
The Danish Government’s response to the call for evidence on ensuring
futureproof rules for product regulation
–
revision of the New Legislative
Framework
The Danish Government looks forward to the revision of the New Legislative Framework (NLF).
The NLF is still a vital tool that needs to be updated in a technologically neutral way to
continuously support the safety and compliance of industrial products throughout their life cycle.
Therefore, the Danish Government welcomes the revision to ensure the continued use and
performance of the NLF, in particular within the digital and green transition as well as recent
market trends.
Summary
The New Legislative Framework (NLF) has served as the common regulatory framework of
products, making compliance with rules for businesses easy and further integrating the Single
Market.
However, since the NLF’s adoption in
2008, we have seen considerable developments,
particularly within the digital and greens sphere, as well as new and complex business models
This has over the years led to ad hoc and sector specific adaptations of legislation in order to
address these new challenges. This approach has challenged the purpose of NLF, led to
fragmentation of the Single Market, and a more complex legal framework for businesses to
navigate which in turn place unnecessary burdens on businesses, reducing their competitiveness.
The NLF must be revised and adapted with specific aims to meet new challenges to ensure that
businesses benefit from the advantages the NLF provides. A revision of the NLF should include
an extensive mapping of ad hoc sector legislation that is based on the NLF principles to identify
deviations from the NLF, indicating areas where the NLF must be adapted and reinforced with
specific aims to meet future challenges, ensuring the safety, security, and compliance of products
throughout their lifecycle. So far, we have identified these most urgent areas to be addressed
through a revision:
•
Fix the responsibility-gap in global e-commerce to ensure a level-playing field
•
Establish a common model for using the Digital Product Passport
•
Support innovative business models while continuously adapting to the green and digital
transition
•
Outline the specific obligations and responsibilities for economic operators involved in
product circularity
•
Adapting the NLF to regulation of software and in particular open source-software
•
Avoid unnecessary deviations from the NLF when making new product legislation.
It is, however, important not to change or try to fix what is not broken as this could result in
unnecessary administrative burdens and regulatory uncertainty for businesses. We should
safeguard NLF as the common framework for product regulation.
Fix the responsibility-gap in global e-commerce
Since the adoption of the NLF in 2008, consumer habits in the Single Market have changed
significantly. Many goods are now shipped directly to consumers from outside the EU. With
limited obligations to ensure compliance, online marketplaces act as a gateway for third country
sellers to place their products on the Single Market from a distance without a traditional importer
with obligations to ensure compliance. The lack of a responsible importer in the EU results in a
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 ERU, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 299: Orientering om høringssvar til Kommissionen vedr. revision af New Legislative Framework, fra erhvervsministeren
compliance deficit leaving consumers at risk and the law-abiding businesses at a competitive
disadvantage as they spend increasingly more resources on ensuring compliance with relevant
Union legislation. Although initiatives to solve the challenges have been taken in the Digital
Services Act, the General Product Safety Regulation and the Ecodesign Regulation, the
compliance deficit remains.
What should be done?
➢
Define and update the specific roles and obligations for the current actors in global e-
commerce and specifically ensure that online marketplaces are defined as an economic
operator with obligations to ensure product compliance.
➢
In cases where legal action in the EU is not possible towards other economic operators,
actors in e-commerce should be made responsible as a default fallback option.
Establish a common model for using the Digital Product Passport
The Danish Government welcomes the horizontal anchoring of the Digital Product Passport in
the NLF as presented in the Commission’s Single Market Strategy. The NLF was not designed
with sharing of digital product information in mind. This leaves much untapped potential to
reduce administrative burdens, support more efficient, risk-based market surveillance, and
promote sustainability through enhanced transparency and traceability.
However, the benefits are greatly dependent on digital information becoming common practice.
Therefore, digital information should be made mandatory, which would also be a necessary step
towards ensuring structured data in a common format. By establishing a default common model
for using the Digital Product Passport and adopting it across related NLF-legislation, the impact
would be maximized and fragmentation between existing and forthcoming initiatives can be
avoided. The NLF should also include the digital product information by default mode, making
it easier to update product information and provide it in various languages. Products with digital
labels can move more freely across borders as digital labels are easier to adjust to meet different
requirements. Enabling a default common model for using the Digital Product Passport will
effectively promote the transition towards a sustainable, circular, and digital economy.
By ensuring that horizontal provisions on the Digital Product Passport are coherently applied
across legislations, and that the underlying digital infrastructure for sharing digital product
information is in place, the Digital Product Passport can be used as an effective tool to reduce
administrative burdens from reporting requirements for companies by 25 % without
compromising business-sensitive information or the
EU’s green ambitions.
What should be done?
➢
Introduce the Digital Product Passport as the main tool to share and disclose product
information across all new and revised product legislation.
➢
Introduce ‘DPP-by-default’ as part of the New Legislative Framework.
Support innovative business models while continuously adapting to the green and digital
transition
Circular business models and economic operators are promoting the green transition through
‘remanufacturing’, ‘refurbishment’, ‘upcycling’, ‘recycling’, and ‘repairs’ of products. Digital
business models are promoting digital transition through software updates and upgrades.
Companies with these business models face regulatory barriers stemming from the NLF’s
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 ERU, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 299: Orientering om høringssvar til Kommissionen vedr. revision af New Legislative Framework, fra erhvervsministeren
traditional and outdated focus on
‘making available on the market’. This approach makes more
sustainable and digital practices unnecessarily difficult and does not foster innovation and
circularity.
The NLF should moreover make a distinction between ‘substantial modifications’ and ‘other
modifications’ that do not significantly impact the level of compliance or intended use of the
product. Reassessing the entire product with every minor change is impractical. The NLF should
develop a more dynamic, modular approach to conformity assessments, including reassessments,
throughout the lifetime of a product. This would include new modules for simplified conformity
assessment of substantial modifications, whether green or digital.
The revision of the NLF should take into account the pace of the digital transition by introducing
mechanisms to continuously adapt the NLF. For example, regular revision cycles to incorporate
new concepts introduced in new legislation. Thereby efficiently transposing these to other NLF-
based legislation where appropriate. Such mechanisms could ensure faster roll out of new
regulatory developments such as obligations for online marketplaces or the integration of the
Digital Product Passport in the NLF.
What should be done?
➢
Investigate whether different lifecycle stages of products could be reflected in the NLF
inspired by recent adopted sector legislation, such as the Ecodesign for Sustainable
Products Regulation and AI Act.
➢
Introduce a distinction
between ‘substantial modifications’ and ‘other modifications’ that
do not significantly impact the level of compliance.
➢
Develop a more dynamic approach to conformity (re-)assessment throughout the lifetime
of a product, including new module(s) for simplified conformity assessment of substantial
modifications whether green or digital.
➢
Introduce regular revision-cycles to incorporate new concepts introduced in new
legislation and efficiently transposing these to other NLF-based legislation where
appropriate.
Outline the specific obligations and responsibilities for economic operators involved in
product circularity
In recent decades, the market for second-hand goods has undergone significant transformation.
This sector, once characterized primarily by local thrift stores and informal exchanges, has
increasingly become formalized and digitalized. Online platforms and specialized resale apps
have facilitated a substantial growth in the volume of second-hand goods circulating within the
Single Market. Second-hand sales now constitute a notable segment of the global economy,
contributing to sustainability efforts by extending product lifecycles and reducing waste. Despite
these positive developments, the rapid expansion of the second-hand sales market presents new
regulatory challenges. Traditional rules, often tailored for new product sales, may not adequately
address the nuances and risks associated with resale activities and may not be possible for
resellers to comply with even when they intend to do so. Given these dynamics, there is a growing
need for specific regulation tailored to second-hand sales that balances the promotion of product
circularity with safeguards for consumers.
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 ERU, Alm.del - 2024-25 - Bilag 299: Orientering om høringssvar til Kommissionen vedr. revision af New Legislative Framework, fra erhvervsministeren
What should be done?
➢
Provide clear and specific obligations, responsibilities and guidelines for economic
operators involved in product circularity.
➢
Establish general requirements specifically aimed at second-hand products that address
the risks associated with the resale of products. These requirements should be tailored to
the actual operation of the second-hand market and consider the practical possibilities for
resellers to ensure compliance.
Adapting the NLF to regulation of software and in particular open source-software
During the recent legislative cycle, the Commission has taken steps to extend product regulations
to software. This is evident in legislation such as the AI Act, the Product Liability Directive and
the Cyber Resilience Act, which have introduced various solutions and requirements for
software, including open source-software. As software becomes an increasingly integral part of
products and services in the European economy, it is essential to avoid fragmentation in
regulatory approaches. Therefore, we believe it is necessary to include software provisions in the
revision of the NLF to ensure its futureproofing. However, regulating software is a complex task,
particularly for the open source-community. Open source-software (OSS) is a key building block
of the digital economy, widely used by software developers in everything from phones and cars
to refrigerators and cutting-edge AI. The current obligations of economic operators under the
NLF do not fully account for the complexities of modern supply chains and the need for
continuous compliance.
What should be done?
➢
Include new economic operators in the NLF by clearly defining the roles and
responsibilities of open source-actors, adapted to their nature and structure.
Avoid unnecessary deviations from the NLF when making new product legislation
The ‘new
approach’
introduced with
the NLF in 2008 is in essence to regulate only with
technologically neutral essential requirements and rely on harmonized standards to set the level
of compliance for presumption of conformity. This makes compliance easier and supports
innovation.
To reduce potential further fragmentation of the Single Market, it is important that the co-
legislators do not deviate from the approach of the NLF. In order to do so, clear obligations to
explain the reasons behind any deviations from the NLF approach should be introduced. This
should especially be the case for the Commission as the drafters of new legislation, but this
approach should also be endorsed by the Council and the European Parliament. Such a
mechanism will ensure that regulation is only done in relation to technologically neutral essential
requirements and rely on harmonized standards to set the level of compliance for presumption of
conformity.
What should be done?
➢
Introduce
an ‘apply or explain’ model for NLF-based
product regulation for example by
introducing clear obligations to explain the reasons behind any deviations from the NLF
approach and reference provisions clearly in the recitals.
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