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Iceland and Republic of China sign MOU

12.6.2015

The Ministry of the Interior and the General Administration of quality, supervision, inspection and quarantine of the People‘s Republic of China (AQSIQ) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the countries.

The agreement was welcomed from our side at the meeting of our Minister of the Interior and Vice-Minister Liu Yuting from your side in 2013. Meanwhile, our experts have exchanged drafts which have now been finalised and signed with this common MOU on 11. June 2015.

Product safety issues are of great concern for both sides, Iceland as mainly an importer of various products from China and you as one of the largest producers of consumer goods in the world. Furthermore, through the Agreement on the European Economic Area, Iceland has transposed into Icelandic legislation the legislation of the European Union on product safety and conformity to legal requirements that are applicable within the EU and EEA internal market.

Therefore, the CE-mark is a general requirement according to our law if harmonised EU legislation does apply to the product in concern. The Ministry of the Interior is responsible for legislation for general product safety and the Consumer Agency is the enforcement authority that also is the RAPEX contact point in Iceland. In practice, the Consumer Agency in their market surveillance activities needs to verify the compliance of products to legal requirements and check information that it obtains from conformity assessment documents. Therefore, for better verification of this information, it will now be possible to make contact with Authorities in Beijing to ask for assistance on verifying such information. This will bring a mutual benefit for both Iceland and China. It will also support increasing business transactions between our countries, for the benefit of all.

The MOU is a positive step in order to better establish the free trade relations between Iceland and China.

TIL BAKA