The European Commission launched a public consultation to identify and eliminate any gaps in the Single Market legislation for industrial products, in particular if there are any obstacles to the trade of new products and new technologies, such as key enabling technologies or 3-D printing. This public consultation is open to a wide stakeholder audience and the deadline for submissions is 17 April 2013.

The European Commission is seeking views from business and interested parties through a public consultation about regulatory issues they encounter while trading industrial products within the EU. The EU aims to allow free circulation of all products throughout the EU - the Single Market concept - but complaints from producers and distributors to the European Commission show that blockages in the trade of industrial products still exist. Recently, Eurostat published that industrial production was down by 0.3% the EU and in the euro area in November 2012 compared with October.

The substantive questions of this consultation are divided into two parts. The first part deals with the remaining regulatory barriers for industrial products in the internal market. The second part covers the simplification of existing rules. The Consultation's objective is to enhance the quality and efficiency of the internal market legislation for industrial products. It will address the elimination of remaining trade barriers, in particular for products with high-growth potential (such as KET or 3-D printing), ensure more consistency in the application of the legislation, and simplify its management and implementation.

A common set of EU rules governs some 75% of products allowing compliant goods to circulate freely across the EU. In the absence of EU legislation, the 'mutual recognition' principle applies, meaning that products lawfully marketed in one Member State can be marketed in another Member State without satisfying additional requirements.