Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 defines market surveillance as the activities carried out and measures taken by market surveillance authorities to ensure that products comply with the requirements of the applicable Union harmonisation legislation and to ensure protection of the public interest covered by that legislation. A market surveillance authority is an authority designated by a Member State under Article 10 as responsible for carrying out market surveillance in its territory. The General Product Safety Regulation uses the same definitions for consumer products outside harmonisation legislation.
Article 11 describes what authorities do: check the characteristics of products on an adequate scale through documentary, physical and laboratory checks, following a risk-based approach, and require economic operators to take corrective action. Article 14 lists the minimum powers, including the power to require documents, technical specifications and supply-chain information, to carry out unannounced inspections, to acquire samples under a cover identity, to order that a non-compliance be brought to an end, to prohibit or restrict the making available of a product, to have it withdrawn or recalled, and to impose penalties. Article 16 sets out the measures where a product is liable to compromise health or safety or does not conform, from bringing it into compliance to destruction.
For a business, market surveillance is the moment when the technical documentation, declaration of conformity and labelling are actually inspected, usually on request within a set deadline. In Denmark most consumer and electrical products are supervised by the Danish Business Authority (Erhvervsstyrelsen), which took over the tasks of the Danish Safety Technology Authority (Sikkerhedsstyrelsen) on 1 January 2026; it can issue orders, require withdrawal or recall and report products to Safety Gate.