At a time when the European Parliament is endeavouring to broaden the scope and increase the effectiveness of the CE mark (which was not originally aimed at consumers, although it now provides assurance concerning product safety and enables goods from non-EU countries to be identified), a visually identical mark has come to light.

1. Is the Commission aware of the existence of the China Export (CE) mark, which just happens to take the form of a symbol consisting of the stylised letters CE and is thus identical to the European Conformité européenne (CE) mark (except for the fact that in the case of the Chinese mark the letters are closer together)?

2. Is the Commission also aware that products bearing the Chinese mark are to be found within the EU, which means that the Chinese mark is feeding off the European CE mark's reputation?

3. What action can the Commission take in order to prevent the European CE mark from being misused in such a way?

4. What sanctions will the Commission bring to bear in this matter?

5. Will the Commission embark forthwith on negotiations with China over the cessation of such practices, i.e. an immediate halt to the use of the China Export mark, which is identical to the Conformité européenne mark?

The European CE mark is not registered for the protection of intellectual property.

6. Will the Commission consider carefully whether registration of the European CE mark as the Community's trademark would not make it easier for counterfeiting to be detected?

CE Marking CE China Export

In a recent case, we as Europeans have become used to the notion that if products such as washing machines or flip arms are bought just in a European store, then they’re guaranteed to be safe. They will sell, they fireproof and they will not cause a fire in our homes. The reason for this assumption is that these products correspond to EU standards because they carry this CE mark. This mark declares European confirmed, approved in the production. During a workshop about the wood working industrialized week in Strasbourg I discovered another marking that symbolizes something completely different. This marking said that the product was produced in China. I think it is no coincidence that these markings are so similar that it is difficult to differentiate between the two. This is aggressive way to confuse European consumers. Therefore, I sent a question to the commission about these non identical marks. In addition, I discovered that the European mark is not registered. The dilemma is if we can fight against placing products with these Chinese marking on the European markets.

Noi come europei pensiamo che se certi prodotti come ad esempio le lavatrici comprate dai negozi Europei devono essere sicure, devono essere resistenti al fuoco e non devono causare un incendio nelle nostre case. La ragione per questa ipotesi è che questi prodotti corrispondano agli standard EU in quanto hanno il marchio CE. Questo marchio significa che è un prodotto europeo, approvato nella produzione. Durante il workshop sulla lavorazione del legno tenuto a Strasburgo, ho scoperto un altro marchio che simboleggia qualcosa di completamente diverso. Questo marchio dice che il prodotto è stato fabbricato in China. I marchi sono talmente simili ed è difficile distinguere tra i due. Questo è un modo aggressivo per confondere i consumatori europei. Perciò, ho mandato una lettera alla Commissione. Inoltre, ho scoperto che il marchio europeo non è registrato. Il problema è se noi siamo in grado di lottare contro il piazzamento dei prodotti col marchio cinese nel mercato europeo.