WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/TBT/N/EU/19 
27 February 2012  
 (12-1095) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Notifying Member:  EUROPEAN UNION  
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 
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):  Electrical equipment 
designed for use with a voltage rating of betw een 50 and 1000 V for alternating current and 
between 75 and 1500 V for direct current. Voltage ra tings refer to the volta ge of the electrical 
input or output, not to voltages which may appear  inside the equipment.  Certain products are 
excluded (ex. Lifts, medical devices, electricity meters, equipment use in explosive atmospheres, domestic plugs and sockets, specia lised equipment for use in ships, aircraft and 
railways complying with international rules). 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Proposal for a Directive 
of the European Parliament and of the Counc il on the harmonisation of the laws of Member 
States relating to the making available on the market of electrical equipment designed for use 
within certain voltage limits (COM(2011) 773) (44 pages, in English, French and Spanish).   
6. Description of content:  This Commission proposal for a Dire ctive concerns the alignment of 
the existing Directive 2006/95/EC relating to el ectrical equipment designed for use within 
certain voltage limits (Low Voltage Directive) with the New Legislative Framework in particular with Decision 768/2008/EC. It includ es and modifies spec ific definitions and 
obligations for ec onomic operators.  G/TBT/N/EU/19 
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  7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable:  The 
existing Directive 2006/95/EC on th e harmonisation of the laws of  Member States relating to 
electrical equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits (Low Voltage Directive) ensures the free movement of electrical equipment within the EU whilst ensuring a high level of protection for persons, dome stic animals and property. The proposal aims to align 
Directive 2005/95/EC to the New Legislative Framework and has the objective of ensuring 
traceability of a product throughout the whol e supply chain and of facilitating market 
surveillance tasks.  
8. Relevant documents:   Directive 2006/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 
of 12 December 2006 on the harmonisa tion of the laws of Member St ates relating to electrical 
equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits (OJ L 374, 27.12.2006, p. 10-19) 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=OJ :L:2006:374:0010:0019:EN:PDF  
Decision No 768/2008/EC of the European Parlia ment and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on a 
common framework for the marketing of pr oducts, and repealing Council Decision 
93/465/EEC (OJ L 218, 13.8.2008, p. 82-128) 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=OJ :L:2008:218:0082:0128:EN:PDF  
Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 
setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the 
marketing of products and repealing Regu lation (EEC) No 339/93 (OJ L 218, 13.8.2008, 
p. 30 - 47) (New Legislativ e Framework) (Notified under  reference G/ TBT/N/EEC/152) 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=OJ :L:2008:218:0030:0047:EN:PDF  
New Legislative Framework for ma rketing of products - website 
"http://ec.europa.eu/enterpris e/policies/single-m arket-goods/regulat ory-policies-common-
rules-for-products/new-legis lative-framework/index_en.htm " 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    End of  2012 
20 days from publication in  the Official Journal 
of the EU (about a month after adoption 
approx.). Applicable 2 years after adoption. 
10. Final date for comments:  90 days from date of notification.  G/TBT/N/EU/19 
 Page 3 
 
 
  11. Text available from:  National enquiry point [  ], or address, telephone and fax numbers, 
e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:    
European Commission 
EU-TBT Enquiry Point Fax:  + (32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail:  mailto:eu-tbt@ec.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/L exUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0773:FIN:EN:PDF  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0773:FIN:FR:PDF  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0773:FIN:ES:PDF  
http://members.wto.org/crnatt achments/2012/tbt/EEC/12_0741_00_e.pdf