Technical regulations

Companies can keep track of any draft technical regulation that is in progress in the EU member states and Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Turkey and Liechtenstein before their adoption. It is also possible for the participating countries and stakeholders to influence a notified proposal by commenting on it.

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Technical regulations are rules on, for example, how a product should be designed, labelled or tested in order to be sold or used. E-service rules, including regulations on digital services, such as rules on social media, are also examples of technical regulations. When the participating countries create new or amend existing rules, they must notify the European Commission in accordance with a certain notification procedure.

Companies can influence new proposals

The purpose of the notification procedure is to avoid new unjustified barriers to trade. The European Commission therefore publishes the countries' draft technical regulations in a public database, TRIS. This enables companies, business organisations and private individuals to obtain information on new proposals for national technical regulations before their adoption. Through the database, it is possible for anyone to submit comments on the proposals for three months from the date of the notification. During that time, the notified technical regulation may not enter into force.

Here's how to submit your comments

You are welcome to contact the National Board of Trade if you would like to comment on other countries' draft technical regulations. Your comments could concern, for example, whether these proposals entail extra costs or hinder trade in goods or e-services. However, it is not the National Board of Trade, but the Government which determines what views Sweden communicates to other member states in the procedure.

You can also submit your own comments on the proposal to the European Commission through the TRIS database.

If you have comments on Swedish proposals for technical regulations or rules for e-services, you should contact the authority responsible for the proposal.

Corresponding procedure outside the EU for technical regulations on goods

Under the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (the TBT Agreement), there is a similar notification procedure for technical regulations outside the EU. It is possible to subscribe to new registrations in a particular sector or from a specific country in the official database Eping.