G/TBT/N/EU/97  
 
4 March 2013  
(13-1160)  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:  mailto: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 applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading. ICS numbers may be provided  in addition, where applicable):  Marine 
Equipment (including inter alia life-saving appliances, pollution prevention equipment, fire 
protection equipment, navigation equipment, radio communication equipment). 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Proposal for a 
directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on marine equipment and 
repealing Directive 96/98/EC (COM(2012) 772 final) (56 pages, in English, French and Spanish).     
6. Description of content:  The draft Directive repeals and replaces Directive 96/98/EC. It 
provides for the specific requirements for ma rine equipment, the wh eel mark, conformity 
assessment procedures and EU market surveillance.  
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable:  The purpose of this Directive is to enhance safety at sea and the prevention 
of marine pollution through the uniform application of the relevant international 
instruments adopted under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) which lay down specific requirements concerning the construction, performance and/or 
testing of equipment to be placed on board ships and to ensure the free movement of such 
equipment within the EU. These international instrument include, in particular: the 1966 International Convention on Load Lines (LL66); the 1972 Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (Colreg); the 1973 International Convention 
for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (Marpol); the 1974 International Convention for 
the Safety of Life at Sea (Solas); the 2004 International Convention  for the Control and 
Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (BWMC). The Directive also provides 
for an alignment with the New Legislative Framework.  G/TBT/N/EU/97 
 
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  8. Relevant documents:   Council Directive 96/98/EC of  20 December 1996 on marine 
equipment (OJ L 46, 17.2.1997, p. 25–56) 
http://eur-
lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ. do?uri=OJ:L:1997:046:0025:0056:EN:PDF  
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    End of  2013 Entry into force 20 days from publication in 
the Official Journal of the EU (about a month after adoption approx.)  
Transposition by EU Member States into their 
national legal orders: 1 year after the entry into force. 
10. Final date for comments:  90 days from date of notification.  
11. Text available from:  National enquiry point [  ], or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresse s, if available of the other body:    
European Commission EU-TBT Enquiry Point 
Fax:  + (32) 2 299 80 43 
E-mail:  mailto:eu-tbt@e c.europa.eu  
The text is available on the EU-TBT Website :  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/     
and at  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2012:0772:FIN:EN:PDF  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2012:0772:FIN:FR:PDF  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2012:0772:FIN:ES:PDF  
http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2013/tbt/EEC/13_0977_00_e.pdf