G/TBT/N/EU/221  
 
14 July 2014  
(14-4023)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
  NOTIFICATION 
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Notifying Member: EUROPEAN UNION 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):    
2. Agency responsible: European Commission 
Name and address (including telephon e and fax numbers, email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:  
European Commission 
EU-TBT Enquiry Point 
Fax:  +(32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail:  eu-tbt@ec.europa.eu  
Website: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [ X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [ X ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applic able, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable): Personal protective 
equipment 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document: Proposal for a 
Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Personal Protective Equipment 
(COM(2014)186 final) (36 pages + Annex 33 pages, in English, French and Spanish). 
6. Description of content: The purpose of the proposal, which will repeal and replace 
Directive 89/686/EEC on personal protective equipment (PPE), is the modification and 
clarification of a number of the provisions of the existing Directive and the alignment with 
the provisions of Decision No 768/2008/EC  establishing a common framework for the 
marketing of products (NLF Decision).  
More specifically, the proposed Regulation will slightly enlarge the scope by including PPE 
for private use providing protection against heat, damp and water (e.g. oven gloves for which the manufacturer claims protection against heat). Clarifications were introduced in 
order to reduce interpretation, e.g. conc erning provisions for made-to-measure and 
individually adapted PPE. The list of the produc ts subject to the most stringent conformity 
assessment procedure was revised in order to remove inconsistencies. Documentary 
requirements were changed in order to impr ove the work of the market surveillance 
authorities and minor changes to three essential health and safety requirements were introduced in order to remove sources of confusion. 
The provisions inserted for the purposes of alignment with the NLF Decision, relate to 
general definitions, obligations of economic  operators, notified bodies, conformity 
assessment bodies etc. While the proposal keeps the existing conformity assessment 
procedures provided for by Directive 89/686/EEC and the involvement in most cases of a 
notified body, those procedures have been adapted to Decision No 768/2008/EC. G/TBT/N/EU/221 
 
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  7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable: 
The overall objectives of this initiative are to  better protect the health and safety of PPE 
users, to ensure a level playing field for PPE economic operators within the internal market 
and simplify the EU regulatory environment in  the field of PPE. The proposal aims to 
modify some of the provisions of Directive 89/686/EEC so as to clarify and update their 
content and to align it to Decision No 768/2008/EC.  
8. Relevant documents:  
 Council Directive of 21 December 1989 on the approximation of the laws of the 
Member States relating to personal protective equipment (89/686/EEC) http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1989L0686:LATEST:EN:PDF  
 Decision No 768/2008/EC of the European Pa rliament and of the Council of 9 July 
2008 on a common framework for the marketing of products, and repealing Council 
Decision 93/465/EEC http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriSe rv/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2
008:218:0082:0128:EN:PDF  
9. Proposed date of adoption:   Mid-2015 
Proposed date of entry into force:   20 days from publication in  the Official Journal of the 
EU  
10. Final date for comments: 90 days from notification 
11. Texts available from: Nati onal enquiry point [ ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresses, if available, of other body 
European Commission 
EU-TBT Enquiry Point 
Fax:  + (32) 2 299 80 43 
E-mail:  eu-tbt@ec.europa.eu  
The text is available on the EU-TBT Website :  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:f02c9ebb-b5b9-11e3-86f9-
01aa75ed71a1.0015.01/DOC_1&format=PDF  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:f02c9ebb-b5b9-11e3-86f9-
01aa75ed71a1.0015.01/DOC_2&format=PDF  
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01aa75ed71a1.0001.01/DOC_1&format=PDF  
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01aa75ed71a1.0001.01/DOC_2&format=PDF  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:f02c9ebb-b5b9-11e3-86f9-
01aa75ed71a1.0023.01/DOC_1&format=PDF  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:f02c9ebb-b5b9-11e3-86f9-
01aa75ed71a1.0023.01/DOC_2&format=PDF  
http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2014/tbt/EEC/14_3082_00_e.pdf 
http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2014/tbt/EEC/14_3082_01_e.pdf