European Policy of Products' Quality Management and Improvement

Management and improvement of products' quality in the European framework could be realized on two ways: obligatory and non-obligatory. Obligatory way concerns law sphere. It is regulated by general regulations, directives, decisions, suggestions concerning directives and by national regulations of each EU member. Two main directives are important in this area: Council Directive 85/374/EEC concerning liability for defective products and Directive 2001/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 December 2001 on general product safety. Mentioned above constitutes one side of products' quality management and improvement. From the other side, non-obligatory ways of following activities exist, like quality management concepts (Total Quality Management), ISO norms concerning quality management and improvement systems as well as European and national quality awards, presenting self-assessment way of quality creating. The main purpose of the article is to present obligatory and non-obligatory instruments of products' quality management and improvement.