The European Commission’s latest Joint Actions on Compliance of Products (JACOP) project offers a useful starting point for understanding why products can still fail environmental compliance checks even when manufacturers have established compliance programs.

Published in June 2026, the JACOP project brought together market-surveillance authorities from 13 European countries to assess 173 electrical and electronic products. Authorities combined laboratory testing with reviews of technical documentation, CE marking, traceability, and conformity assessment. According to the European Commission’s JACOP findings, 91 products, or 53%, were found to be noncompliant.

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