Search every question across sub-FAQs

The first one.

For the individual product, the legal placing-on-the-market event is the first supply for distribution, consumption or use on the Union market, whether that first supply is to an importer, a distributor or directly to the end user.

No.

The Blue Guide explains that placing on the market requires the manufacturing stage to be complete. An offer or agreement concluded before the product is finished is not yet placing on the market.

They can bring a product into EU product-law scope before physical delivery to the customer.

If an online or distance offer is targeted at Union end users, the product is deemed to be made available on the Union market for market-surveillance purposes. The Blue Guide says that whether an offer targets Union end users must be assessed case by case, taking into account factors such as dispatch areas, ordering languages and payment possibilities; mere website accessibility is not enough. Where the product is already manufactured and ready to be shipped, a direct distance sale to an EU end user can also be the placing-on-the-market event for that individual product.

Not necessarily.

The Blue Guide distinguishes between products being deemed made available on the Union market for market-surveillance purposes and the actual placing-on-the-market event for the individual product. The latter still depends on the distribution chain and on whether the product is already manufactured and supplied for distribution or use.

Often at release for free circulation, but not always.

The Blue Guide says products declared for release for free circulation can generally be treated as placed on the market, while also making clear that in practice placing on the market may happen before or after that customs step depending on the distribution chain.

No.

The Blue Guide says placing on the market is considered not to take place where products are introduced into the EU customs territory in transit, placed in free zones, temporary storage, warehouses or other special customs procedures.

No.

The Blue Guide treats that situation as outside placing on the market. It also distinguishes it from products bought online and shipped into the EU, which do not fall under that carve-out.

Usually no.

The Blue Guide says placing on the market does not occur where a product is manufactured for one's own use unless the legislation in question expressly treats own use as an equivalent trigger. The Commission's CRA FAQ applies that logic to the CRA and explains that products developed only for the manufacturer's own use are outside scope unless they are separately placed on the market.

The Blue Guide defines it as the first use of a product within the Union by the end user for its intended purpose.

That concept matters in some Union product laws, but the CRA's general trigger structure is built around placing on the market and making available on the market, not a separate general putting-into-service trigger.

Yes, in principle.

The Blue Guide explains that once a compliant product has been placed on the market, it may continue to be made available later in the distribution chain even if the law changes afterward or the relevant harmonised standards are revised, unless the new legislation provides otherwise. The Commission's CRA FAQ applies the same logic to the CRA transition.

Yes.

The relevant question is whether the individual product had already been placed on the market before the new rules applied. If it had, later storage and resale within the distribution chain do not create a new placing-on-the-market event.

No.

The Blue Guide says repeated renting of the same product does not create a new placing-on-the-market event. The compliance moment remains the first renting or other first supply of that individual product.

No, provided the Blue Guide and CRA conditions are met.

The Blue Guide treats products displayed or operated under controlled conditions at trade fairs, exhibitions or demonstrations as not yet placed on the market, as long as they are clearly identified as non-compliant and not yet available for placing on the market. The CRA contains the same type of carve-out for products, including prototypes, presented or used at such events.

Yes, but only under a narrow CRA exception.

Article 4(3) allows unfinished software such as alpha versions, beta versions or release candidates to be made available on the market for the limited period required for testing, provided it carries a visible sign stating that it does not comply and is not available for purposes other than testing. Recital 37 also says manufacturers should not force users to upgrade to versions released only for testing purposes.

Because the CRA uses the same NLF documentation logic.

The Blue Guide explains the role of technical documentation and the possibility of a single declaration of conformity dossier across several Union acts. The Commission's CRA FAQ relies on that same logic when explaining what technical documentation must contain and how the declaration of conformity works under the CRA.