G/TBT/N/EU/142  
 
9 August 2013  
(13-4273)  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):  Pressure 
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 the harmonisation of the laws 
of the Member States relating to making available on the market of pressure equipment 
(COM(2013) 471 final) (167 pa ges, in English).     
6. Description of content:  The proposal intends to align Directive 97/23/EC on pressure 
equipment to the "goods package" - adopted in 2008 and in particular to Decision No 768/2008/EC establishing a common fram ework for the marketing of products. It 
also intends to align Directive 97/23/EC to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the 
European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2008 on classification, labelling 
and packaging of substances and mixtures. 
In this context, the proposal modifies a number of definitions which are commonly used 
throughout Union harmonisation legislation in order to harmonise their meaning 
throughout that legislation. It clarifies the obligations of manufacturers and authorised representatives and introduces obligations for importers and distributors.  
The proposal reinforces the notification criteria for conformity assessment bodies and 
revises the existing safeguard clause procedure in line with the provisions of Decision No 768/2008/EC. Directive 97/23/EC has se lected the appropriate conformity 
assessment procedures which manufacturers have to apply in order to demonstrate that 
their pressure equipment complies with the e ssential requirements. The proposal aligns 
these procedures to their updated versions set out in the Decision No 768/2008/EC. 
Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 which implements within the European Union the Globally 
Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) that has been  G/TBT/N/EU/142 
 
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  adopted at international level, within the structure of the United Nations. 
Directive 97/23/EC provides, in Article 9 for a classification of pressure equipment in 
categories, according to the ascending level of risk due to pressure. The classification of 
the equipment is mainly based on the total energetic content (pressure and volume of 
the equipment) but is also influenced by the classification (dangerous or not) of the fluid it contains. The classification of pressure equipment into categories is directly related to 
the conformity assessment procedure applied in order to verify the conformity of the 
equipment to the essential requirements of th e Directive. However, the classification of 
the fluids contained in the equipment for the purposes of its classification, is based on 
Council Directive 67/548/EEC of 27 June 1967 on the approximation of the laws, 
regulations and administrative provisions relating to the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances. According to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, Directive 67/548/EEC will be repealed on 1 June 2015 and replaced by the Regulation. 
The Regulation introduces new hazard classes and categories only partially 
corresponding to those used under the current provisions. The fluid classification criteria of Directive 97/23/EC must therefore be a ligned to the classification criteria of 
Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 until 1 June 2015. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable:  The proposal aims to align Directive 97/23/EC to Decision No 768/2008/EC 
and to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008.  
8. Relevant documents:   Legislative proposal: COM (2013) 471 final of 28.6.2013. 
Directive 97/23/EC of the European Parliament  and of the Council of 29 May 1997 on the 
approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning pressure equipment. 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    Beginning of 2015 20 days from publication in the Official Journal of the EU (about a month after 
adoption approx.)  
10. Final date for comments:  60 days from 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/  
http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2013/tbt/EEC/13_3169_00_e.pdf