[pic] | COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES |

Brussels, 9.9.2005

COM(2005) 415 final

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION

ON THE APPLICATION BY THE MEMBER STATES OF COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 99/36/EC ON TRANSPORTABLE PRESSURE EQUIPMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. DIRECTIVE 99/36/EC 3

2. ARTICLE 4 OF DIRECTIVE 99/36/EC 4

3. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 4 BY THE MEMBER STATES 5

4. IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 4 BY THE MEMBER STATES 5

5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5

ANNEX: SUMMARY OF APPLICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 4 OF DIRECTIVE 99/36/EC BY THE MEMBER STATES 6

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION

ON THE APPLICATION BY THE MEMBER STATES OF COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 99/36/EC ON TRANSPORTABLE PRESSURE EQUIPMENT

1. DIRECTIVE 99/36/EC

Council Directive 99/36/EC of 29 April 1999[1] on transportable pressure equipment, as amended[2], is an act under the ‘New Approach’ to product regulation covering the certification of such equipment. The purpose of the Directive is to enhance the safety of transportable pressure equipment in the inland transport of dangerous goods and to ensure the free movement of such equipment within the Community, including its placing on the market and continued use.

Annexes IV and V to Directive 99/36/EC set out specific certification procedures for new and existing equipment and cover:

- conformity assessment of new transportable pressure equipment;

- conformity reassessment and periodic inspections of existing transportable pressure equipment.

The Directive also stipulates that only particular inspection bodies accredited by the national competent authorities are authorised to certify equipment under those certification procedures. Normally, conformity assessments and reassessments have to be carried out by a notified body . However, conformity assessments for the purpose of placing new equipment on the national market of a particular Member State and periodic inspections can also be carried out by an approved body . Annexes I, II and III to the Directive set out the minimum criteria to be met by notified and approved bodies.

Annex VII to the Directive specifies that a pi-mark should be affixed on the equipment as a sign of certification.

Member States should have adopted and published the domestic legislation needed to comply with the Directive no later than 1 December 2000. They should also have adopted the provisions necessary to apply the Directive no later than 1 July 2001, but this time limit was extended for certain equipment. For pressure drums, bundles of cylinders and tanks the implementation date was changed to 1 July 2005 by the Commission Decision of 18 July 2003[3].

2. ARTICLE 4 OF DIRECTIVE 99/36/EC

Article 4 of Directive 99/36/EC sets out specific provisions for placing transportable pressure equipment products on the national market of a particular Member State.

Under Article 4, Member States may authorise on their territory the placing on the market, transport and putting into service by users of receptacles the conformity of which has been assessed by an approved body .

Article 4(5) states that the Commission must monitor and evaluate the effects of Article 4, as from 1 July 2004, and report back to the Council and the European Parliament. For that purpose, a survey was carried out among Member States in July 2004. Member States were asked to provide the Commission with information on the application and implementation of Article 4 in their territory. All the Member States sent the required information, except for Greece.

The key points of the survey were two questions regarding the application and implementation of Article 4:

1. “Do you [Member State] authorise, in your territory, the placing on the market, transport and putting into service by users, of the receptacles the conformity of which has been assessed by an approved body, as permitted in Article 4(1)? If so, please indicate the relevant article of your legislation and indicate which modules of conformity assessment these approved bodies are recognised to use, if they are not all those referred in Article 4(4).”

2. “Has any entity asked to be recognised to be an approved body for the purpose of the placing on the national market of the above mentioned receptacles? Of those entities, how many obtained the respective recognition as approved bodies for that purpose?”

The answers given to these questions by Member States are summarised in the Annex to this report.

3. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 4 BY THE MEMBER STATES

The answers to question 1 demonstrate that many Member States have not availed themselves of the option offered by Article 4. Ten Member States (Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Slovenia and the United Kingdom) decided to use the option. However, 14 Member States decided not to use the option (Greece did not reply).

4. IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 4 BY THE MEMBER STATES

The answers to question 2 show that the practical implementation of Article 4 has hardly begun. While 10 Member States decided to use the option given in Article 4, only Lithuania, Hungary and Slovenia have had applications to recognise some approved bodies. However, none of the applicants have obtained recognition yet.

5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

A majority of Member States have decided not to avail themselves of the option offered by Article 4 of Directive 99/36/EC for their domestic legislation. In other words, a majority of Member States do not permit approved bodies to carry out conformity assessments for placing new transportable pressure equipment on the national market.

In addition, in the Member States that have used the option given in Article 4, practical implementation has hardly begun. Only in Lithuania, Hungary and Slovenia are applications under consideration to recognise approved bodies, but so far none has been recognised.

Bearing in mind that the implementation of the Directive is currently still partial, until 1 July 2005, final conclusions and recommendations on Article 4 should only be taken after that date, i.e. after the Directive has become fully applicable to all transportable pressure equipment (including pressure drums, bundles of cylinders and tanks).

The Commission will come back to this issue when the Member States have gained experience of applying the Directive in full.

ANNEX

SUMMARY OF APPLICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 4 OF DIRECTIVE 99/36/EC BY THE MEMBER STATES

MEMBER STATES | Answer to question 1 | Answer to question 2 |

BELGIQUE – BELGIÊ (Belgium) | YES | NO |

CESKA REPUBLIKA (Czech Republic) | NO | NO |

DANMARK (Denmark) | NO | NO |

DEUTSCHLAND (Germany) | NO | NO |

EESTI (Estonia) | NO | NO |

ELLAS (Greece) | - | - |

ESPAÑA (Spain) | NO | NO |

FRANCE (France) | YES | NO |

IRELAND (Ireland) | YES | NO |

ITALIA (Italy) | YES | NO |

KYPROS (Cyprus) | NO | NO |

LATVIJA (Latvia) | NO | NO |

LIETUVA (Lithuania) | YES | YES (none authorised yet) |

LUXEMBOURG (Luxemburg) | NO | NO |

MAGYARORSZAG (Hungary) | YES | YES (none authorised yet) |

MALTA (Malta) | YES | NO |

NEDERLAND (Netherlands) | YES | NO |

ÖSTERREICH (Austria) | NO | NO |

POLSKA (Poland) | NO | NO |

PORTUGAL (Portugal) | NO | NO |

SLOVENIJA (Slovenia) | YES | YES (none authorised yet) |

SLOVENSKO (Slovakia) | NO | NO |

SUOMI (Finland) | NO | NO |

SVERIGE (Sweden) | NO | NO |

UNITED KINGDOM (United Kingdom) | YES | NO |

[1] OJ L 138, 01.06.1999, p. 20.

[2] Directive 99/36/EC was amended to adapt the Annexes to technical progress by Commission Directive 2001/2/EC of 4 January 2001 (OJ L 5, 10.01.2001, p.4) and by Commission Directive 2002/50/EC of 6 June 2002 (OJ L 149, 07.06.2002, p.28).

[3] OJ No L 183, 22.07.2003, p.45.