Date: 20th December 2024
Earlier this week concerns were raised about the sale of products from UK into the EU and Northern Ireland; there were questions raised in the House of Commons. The Club Sales team asked how this might affect us. The Committee have looked at what this is all about and following a meeting this evening I undertook to post this note here.
The EU Regulation 2023/988 on General Product Safety came into force on 13 December. In a nutshell, this updates earlier rules to reflect the UK leaving the EU. As the gov.uk website says: "This Regulation requires that all consumer products placed on the NI and EU markets are safe and establishes specific obligations for businesses to ensure that safety. The Regulation applies to products placed on, or made available to, the market where there are no sector-specific provisions with the same objective".
Based on what we have seen, and some unofficial advice, the G-QRP Club has decided to suspend all sales of components and kits to members in the EU (and Northern Ireland) with immediate effect.
This will not apply to SPRAT, or our books.
The Secretary has undertaken to seek official advice from UK Government to see if there is a way we can re-start sales to the EU and Northern Ireland without incurring disproportionate overheads. This is not a change that we want to make, but we cannot put the Club at risk of enforcement action nor do we have the capacity to deal with even more packages being returned from EU countries.
I trust that member affected by this change will understand our position.
73, Steve, G0FUW
Chairman G-QRP Club
