. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/287 
21 July 2009  
 (09-3569) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
  
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):     
2. Agency responsible:  European Commission 
Name and address (including telephone 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 
EC-TBT Enquiry Point Fax:  +(32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail:  ec-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):  Internal combustion 
engines to be placed on machinery under th e scope of Directive 97/68/EC as amended 
(2002/88/EC & 2004/26/EC). 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Draft Commission 
Directive amending Directive 97/68/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on 
the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to measures against the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutant s from internal combustion engines to be 
installed in non-road mobile machinery (28 pages, in English). 
6. Description of content:   
1. Clarification and completion of the type approval procedure for the placing on the 
market of Stage IIIB engines, coming into  force as of 1 January 2010, with the 
addition of the missing cold start testing conditions and the amendment of technical 
issues deriving from the use of sophisticat ed after treatment systems reducing NOx 
and PM exhaust emissions to levels compliant  with the limits set in the Directive. 
2. Extension of derogation for some types of  professional small hand-held equipment 
(classes SH:2 & SH:3). 
3. Simplification of the notification procedure under the flexibility scheme. G/TBT/N/EEC/287 
Page 2  
 
  7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable:  The 
amending proposal addresses urgent issues, clarifies and completes the type approval procedure – incomplete at the time of the current legislation – of engines to be placed on the market under Directive 97/68/EC and provides the time needed for industry and Member States to design, produce and type approve engi nes as of 1 January 2010. It also extends the 
derogation period for some professional hand held  equipment to allow time for finalizing 
next generation technology in order that the la tter can be tested and implemented in real 
market conditions so these small engines can comply with the next stage limits.   
Some simplification measures are also included in the notification requirements in case of 
the use of a flexibility scheme, reducing admini strative burden and cost  without abolishing 
the control of machinery placed on the market. 
8. Relevant documents:   Directive 2004/ 26/EC of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 21 April 2004 amending Directive 97/ 68/EC on the approximation of the laws of 
the Member States relating to measures against the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants from internal combustion engines to be installed in non-road mobile machinery 
http://eur-lex.europa.e u/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:L :2004:146:SOM:EN:HTML
 
Directive 2002/88/EC of the European Parliame nt and of the Council of 9 December 2002 
amending Directive 97/68/EC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States 
relating to measures against the emission of g aseous and particulate pollutants from internal 
combustion engines to be installed in non-road mobile machinery 
http://eur-lex.europa.e u/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:L :2003:035:SOM:EN:HTML  
Directive 97/68/EC of the European Parliame nt and of the Council of 16 December 1997 on 
the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to measures against the 
emission of gaseous and particulate pollutant s from internal combustion engines to be 
installed in non-road mobile machinery 
http://eur-lex.europa.e u/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:L :1998:059:SOM:EN:HTML   
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    End of December 2009  
1 January 2010.  (There is a transposition period for Member States of six months following publication.) 
10. Final date for comments:  60 days from date of notification 
11. Text available from: National enquiry point [  ], or addre ss, telephone and fax numbers, 
e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:    
European Commission 
EC-TBT Enquiry Point Fax:  + (32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu The text is available on the EC-TBT Website :  http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/ 
  
and  
here.