Market surveillance is critical to occupational health. The Machinery Directive requires States to take all appropriate measures to ensure that machinery placed on the market in the European Union satisfies essential safety requirements. In practice, surveillance is still piecemeal and less effective that it should be. Much CE-marked equipment is marred by safety failings.

For the first time since the Machinery Directive was adopted in 1989, the European Court of Justice is to give a ruling on two sets of questions referred to it for a preliminary ruling by Finnish courts. The AGM COS-MET (C-470-03) and Yonemoto (C-40-04) cases both focus on market surveillance, and both in different ways reflect the pressures bearing down on it in the name of “free movement of goods”.

The implications of these cases go far beyond Finland’s domestic concerns. Which is why the trade union movement is keeping a close watching brief on the issue, and sounding a wake-up call against all attempts to undermine national market surveillance mechanisms.

• More on the AGM COS MET case
• More on the Yonemoto case
• TUTB Publication on the application of the machinery directive