By Richa Chakravarty
Are you planning to do business in the European Union (EU)? Then you will need to comply with a whole set of requirements to ensure that your product is safer, greener, and hence, sells better in the 27 member countries of EU. While western Europe is one of the most lucrative markets, it poses challenges to exporters, including those operating from India, as it has introduced various consumer standards in the last few years, which aim at making products safer, greener and better. EU strictly ensures that any product—local or imported—sold in any of its member countries, complies with these standards.
A two day workshop to mentor Indian exporters was jointly organised by ELCINA and Automotive Components Manufacturers’ Association (ACMA), supported by the Centre for Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI), an agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands.
Ana Maria Pena, senior consultant in CREM BV Company and Guenther Fandrich, CBI expert in electronic components and systems, briefed representatives from the various participating companies about the sector specific strengths of EU and the regulatory requirements that have to be complied with in order to access the lucrative EU markets.
The workshop was divided into two categories—legislative requirements and market driven requirements. The first day of the workshop covered the laws on product quality and the relevant requirements in the field of consumer health and safety, environment and social issues.
EU’s legislative requirements are comprehensive, covering consumer, product and environment safety, quality, social accountability, code of conduct, and social and labour requirements.
The workshop highlighted the importance of standards that are followed globally. It created awareness about the need to comply with ISO certification requirements, and some of the mandatory standards like Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS), Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH), Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), Energy using Product (EuP), eMarking and International Standard for Photosanitary Measures (ISPM). “For successful export relations in EU, it is necessary that companies comply with all the requirements, as it guarantees product safety, minimises environmental pollution and creates social responsibility,” said Ana Maria Pena.
Complying with these standards is not yet mandatory for Indian companies when they sell in local markets. Qualitywise, Indian products lag far behind when compared to the standards that are being followed globally. Lack of awareness about these standards and the cost involved in obtaining the globally recognised certifications are the major reasons for India not making these standards mandatory.
“Abiding by these standards is not an issue, but to obtain certification involves costs that are quite high and it adds to the cost of production. As it is, the electronics industry is so competitive, including these costs will leave no profit margin for the manufacturers,” explains Anuj Manglik, senior manager, sales, Intex Technologies (India) Ltd. To get more information, you can access www.cbi.eu. This website is quite helpful and gives comprehensive information regarding various products and the respective standards to be met in the respective fields, in order to trade with EU. You can access information on buyers, suppliers, sectors and markets. The search engine helps in getting up-to-date information on issues like market access requirements, market size, consumer trends, trade structures, packaging, pricing, terms of trade and export guidelines for more than 35 sectors, covering EU and its member states.
