The Blue Guide is intended to contribute to a better understanding of EU product legislation and to its more uniform and coherent application across different sectors and throughout the single market. It is addressed to the Member States and to those who need to be informed of the provisions designed to ensure the free circulation of products as well as a high level of protection throughout the European Union. Its update has been launched at the beginning of 2020.

The process for an update of the current Blue Guide has been thought to reflect the new legislation that has been adopted and in particular Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on the market surveillance and to include any relevant development at international level. The aim is also to explore to what extent the current rules can take into consideration the digital age and the circular economy.

The main differences of version 2016 from version 2014 were about:

- explanations of key concepts of the harmonisation legislation on products
- actors in the product supply chain and their obligations
- product requirements
- conformity assessment
- accreditation
- market surveillance
- explanations of the modules.


The Blue Guide version 2016 is available here.