Petition No 0057/2023 by Zbigniew Kiedacz (Polish), on behalf of Smart Kid SA, on alleged discrimination of a European manufacturer of child restraint systems by the European Commission

European Parliament 2019-2024 Committee on Petitions 4.4.2023 NOTICE TO MEMBERS Subject: Petition No 0057/2023 by Zbigniew Kiedacz (Polish), on behalf of Smart Kid SA, on alleged discrimination of a European manufacturer of child restraint systems by the European Commission 1. Summary of petition The petitioner represents a Polish company that manufactures child restraint systems, i.e. devices to secure children in cars based on the use of built-in seat belts. This device is intended for children of groups 2 and 3 — between 4 and 12 years of age and between 15 and 36 kilograms — who, with the help of other devices, can use car seat belts. Its product has been approved in accordance with Regulation No 44 of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) for use in all countries of the European Union, based on the 1958 Agreement on the Adoption of Harmonised Technical Regulations of the United Nations, to which the European Union has been a party since 1997. The system works as a double mechanism for mutual recognition of approvals and of the principles for issuing technical regulations. The petitioner complains that the European Commission allegedly took a number of openly hostile actions against his product with the aim of eliminating it from the market, with the collusion and cooperation of its competitors. In particular, he complains that DG GROW, in its reply to the Dutch Approval Authority (RDW) on the approval that his product had obtained from the...