* it 
•k -fc-COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 26.06.1996 
COM(96) 286 final 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 
ON THE OPERATION OF DIRECTIVE 83/189/1 EC 
IN 1992,1993 AND 1994 

SUMMARY 
The present report, which relates to the application of Directive 83/189/EEC in 1992, 1993 
and 1994, provides background information for the European Parliament as provided by 
Article 11.2 of Directive 83/189/EEC, amended by Directive 88/182/EEC. 
Directive 83/189/EEC, which was aimed at preventing the appearance of barriers to the 
operation of the Internal Market, proved to be a basic instrument for the realization of the 
Internal Market through the promotion of co-operation between the Member States and 
through the detection of fields in which joint action was revealed to be necessary. 
The report upon the operation of this instrument in 1992, 1993 and 1994 is divided into three 
chapters: 
1. The information procedure for standards : 
This chapter relates to the information procedure for standards, as provided by Articles 2 to 7 
of Directive 83/189/EEC. After a brief description of the procedure, its operation during the 
years from 1992 to 1994 is explained, together with an analysis of the statistics. The report 
also discusses the quality of the notifications, the use of the information at various levels and 
the issue of authorizations to the European standards institutes, namely the European 
Committee for Standardization (CEN), the European Committee for Electro-technical 
Standardization (CENELEC), and the European Institute for Telecommunications 
Standardization (ETSI). The short and medium-term improvement connected with the 
revised procedure is also analyzed. 
2. Information procedure in the field of technical regulations : 
This chapter outlines the development of the procedure provided by Directive 83/189/EEC in 
the field of national technical regulations. It examines the flow of exchanged information, 
particularly problems of application and the various reactions by the Commission and the 
Member States, in addition to the various responses to the procedure. 
3. The exchange of information on technical regulations between the EEC and the 
EFTA countries. 
This chapter analyzes the exchange of information provided by the Agreement between the 
Member States of EFTA and the European Economic Community, which set up a procedure 
for the exchange of information in the field of technical regulations (Council Decision 
90/518/EEC), an Agreement which was concluded for a period of two years. This Agreement 
expired on 1st November 1992. It was extended for the period from November 1992 to 
December 1993 by bilateral agreements in the form of an exchange of letters. 
In 1994, the EEA Agreement came into force. This Agreement contains the provisions of 
Directive 83/189/EEC, adapted in Section XIX of Annex II. 
As far as the Swiss Confederation is concerned, although not part of the EEA Agreement it 
continues to take part in exchanges of information with the Community,, 
2 
REPORT BY THE COMMISSION ON THE OPERATION OF DIRECTIVE 
83/189/EEC 
IN 1992,1993 AND 1994 
Introduction 
1. This report on the operation of Directive 83/189/EEC in 1992, 1993 and 1994 
contains the information for Parliament called for by Article 11(2) of Directive 
83/189/EEC, as amended by Directive 88/182/EEC. 
The free movement of goods is a cornerstone of the Internal Market and the 
elimination of technical barriers to trade is a major condition for its proper operation. 
Only transparency can enable barriers to the free movement of goods to be dealt with 
swiftly. A notable example of an instrument which enables the Community to avoid -
a'fter the realization of the Internal Market per 1.1.1993 and the coming into force of 
the European Economic Area - the introduction of new barriers by means of a 
procedure which ensures transparency, is Directive 83/189/EEC which requires the 
notification of technical legislation or standards which could have implications for the 
free movement of goods. 
A proposal to amend the Directive in order to fill gaps in its coverage was put before 
the Council and the European Parliament at the end of 1992, which has been adopted 
unanimously after long and intensive debates on 23rd March 1994 (Directive 
94/10/EC amending for a second time Directive 83/189/EEC). It will enter into force 
on 1st July 1995. 
This report on the operation of this mechanism in 1992, 1993 and 1994 is divided into 
the following chapters : 
the information procedure for standards (Chapter I); 
the information procedure in the field of technical regulations 
(Chapter II); 
the Agreement on the exchange of information in the field of technical 
regulations between the EEC and the EFTA countries (Chapter III). 
CHAPTER 1 
THE INFORMATION PROCEDURE FOR STANDARDS 
Introduction 
5. The present chapter relates to the information procedure for standards as provided by 
Articles 2 to 7 of Directive 83/189/EEC. After a brief description of the procedure, its 
operation during the years from 1992 to 1994 is explained, together with an analysis 
of the statistics. The report also discusses the quality of the notifications, the use of 
information at various levels and the issue of authorizations to the European standards 
institutes, namely the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the European 
Committee for Electro-technical Standardization (CENELEC), and the European 
Institute for Telecommunications Standardization (ETSI). This Chapter ends with an 
analysis of the short and medium-term improvement connected with the revised 
procedure. 
A Brief Description of the Procedure 
6. In practice, the information procedure for standards began on 1st January 1985. Since 
then the national standards institutes, members of the CEN and of the CENELEC 
(including those of the EFTA countries) have notified the necessary information to the 
Central Unit of the CEN/CENELEC (a unit which is responsible to the Central 
Secretariats of the CEN and the CENELEC). The notifications relate to amendments 
made to the national standardization programmes, namely : 
new projects undertaken (cf. Article 2 of the Directive), 
projects for public screening (cf. Article 4 of the Directive), 
the adoption of national standards (cf. Article 2 of the Directive). 
The information gathered is sent periodically to all the members of the CEN and the 
CENELEC, who are responsible for distributing them to the sectors concerned in 
order to gain reactions. The information is also examined by the competent 
authorities within the CEN and the CENELEC (Central Secretariats, Planning 
Committees, etc) as well as by the Commission departments. 
Following the Commission's proposal of 28th November 19921 regarding the 
amendment of Directive 83/189/EEC, aimed at making the information procedure 
more efficient, the CEN and the CENELEC have, since the beginning of 1993, 
already introduced some of the measures set out in this proposal. As a result, 
notifications made since 1st January 1993 have been limited to new projects 
undertaken on a national level. 
O.J.E.C.C 340 of 23.12.1992 
Appropriate annual contracts were concluded between the European Commission and 
the CEN and CENELEC in order to cover the technical operation of the information 
procedure for standards. 
It being given that the European Institute for Telecommunications Standardization 
(ETSI) was included in the Annex to Directive 83/189/EEC, though a Decision by the 
Commission of 15th July 19922, this institute should automatically take part in the 
information procedure for standards. In practice, this participation is limited to 
receiving and examining information sent by the members of the CEN and 
CENELEC, which is forwarded by the Central Secretariats of these two institutes. In 
fact, the ETSI is not comprised of national standards institutes, under the terms of the 
definition in Article 1 of Directive 83/189/EEC. 
Infomiation relating to drawing up technical specifications in the field of 
telecommunications on a national level is conveyed, in principle, either via the 
information procedure in the field of technical regulations in the case of legislation, or 
via the members of the CEN and the CENELEC with regard to the voluntary sector. 
Despite the fact that there is no procedure within the ETSI for notifying new national 
standardization projects, it can be assumed that these projects should be limited, since 
the ETSI programmes cover a wide range of subjects, and the internal standstill rule 
applies to each one of them. 
The present chapter of the report is therefore solely concerned ith operations notified 
by the members of the CEN and the CENELEC, these institute; ^eing indexed in I st 
2 of the Annex to Directive 83/189/EEC. 
The operation of the information procedure in 1992,1993 and 1994 
In 1992, the method of operating the information procedure for standards remained 
unchanged in comparison with preceding years. It is à matter of collecting and 
examining the notifications received, processing them, storing them in a databank and 
distributing the results on a monthly basis. The information procedure has also been 
supplemented this year by entering new initiatives taken on a European and 
international level. 
Beginning from January 1993, the CEN introduced the simplified procedure laid 
down in the Commission's proposal for amending Directive 83/189/EEC. 
Notifications were limited in principle to new national initiatives at the time they 
entered the working programme. Notifications of these initiatives entering the public 
screening stage in addition to the stage of adoption have thus been discarded. Despite 
a relatively difficult transition period during the first months of 1993, this 
simplification has enabled the CEN Central Secretariat to control the flow of 
information more effectively and to examine certain notifications in more detail, with 
2 O.J.E.C. L 221 of 6th August 1992 
regard both to their presentation and their content. Since 1993, this simplification has 
also made it possible to obtain full and realistic statistics relating to the new national 
initiatives launched. 
The exchange of draft standards for public screening has been carried out since the 
beginning of 1993, case by case, by mutual agreement between the institutes 
concerned and with a view to the participation specified in Article 3 of Directive 
83/189/EEC. 
10. As for the CENELEC, it has strengthened its internal procedure, known as the 
"Vilamoura" procedure, by allowing it to conform with the information procedure 
provided by Directive 83/189/EEC. In effect, the "Vilamoura" procedure requires 
each member of the CENELEC to notify, as soon as possible, even in the early stages, 
every wish for and/or intention of a standardization initiative. A reaction emanating 
from any one of the other members, within a period of three months, is sufficient to 
activate a standstill period. This can only be lifted by the highest technical authority 
within the CENELEC, namely the Technical Board. It is only in circumstances where 
this authority ascertains that it is not appropriate to work on a European level that it 
authorizes the development of the notified initiative upon a national level and this 
then becomes a national initiative under the terms of Directive 83/189/EEC. 
Notifications relating to these initiatives are then distributed every quarter to the 
larger circle of participants named in Directive 83/189/EEC. 
11. The statistics given by the CEN and the CENELEC in their annual report supply an 
overall view of the standardization initiatives which were notified to the Central Unit 
in the years from 1992 to 1994. 
Amongst these statistics, those which relate to new projects3 reflect the most recent 
trends in standardization initiatives. These latter statistics can be examined from three 
complementary angles : 
a breakdown by level (national, European or international), as well as the 
trends in the initiatives at each level; 
a breakdown by country; 
a breakdown by sector and sub-sector of activity. 
12. As indicated in previous reports, the statistics must be interpreted with some caution 
for the following reasons : 
the statistics for 1992 and previous years do not take into account the 
relatively high number of new initiatives which were directly notified at the 
public screening stage, without prior notification, which was contrary to the 
"New project" is understood to mean any new standardization initiative which is entered into the 
standardization programme on a national, European or international level. 
regulations stipulated in the past by the CEN/CENELEC; 
a new initiative launched upon a European level may cover a much wider field 
than an initiative upon a national level; 
the stage at which a new standardization project is notified is not the same for 
- all the members of the CEN and the CENELEC, as a result of different 
working methods. 
With the change in the system since 1993, it is no longer easy to make a simple 
comparison between the number of national notifications received in 1993 and the 
number of these notifications received in previous years. 
Trends in standardization initiatives 
13. Taking these reservations into account, a certain number of observations upon the 
trends in European and national standardization can be made on the basis of Tables I, 
II, III and IV which are appended to this report. 
a. The total level of new projects launched stabilized in 1992 after four years of 
rapid growth. The number then fell considerably in 1993, principally as a 
result of the significant reduction in new European initiatives and, to a lesser 
extent, international initiatives. 
On the national level, the number of new initiatives in 1992 and 1993 was 
maintained at the stable level of previous years, being on average 2150 units. 
In 1994, this number fell to 1630, following the implementation, after the 
period of transition in 1993, of the simplified system introduced by Directive 
94/10/EC. The proportion of very specific projects within this number 
increased, however, from 76% in 1992 to approximately 93% in 1994. 
c. The number of new initiatives upon a European level fell sharply in 1992 in 
comparison with the two previous years, both in the electrical sector and in the 
non-electrical sector. This reduction was principally due to the new 
standardization policy by the European institutes of concentrating upon 
feasible programmes, after several years of problems resulting from the 
sudden increase in the number of new subjects in the working programme. 
d. Upon an international level, a negative trend was also observed in 1993 after 
continuing growth in 1992. 
As far as the breakdown of new national projects between the Community 
States is concerned, Tables Ilia and Illb show significant differences between 
7 
the countries. In 1992, approximately one third of new national 
standardization initiatives in the Union came from Spain, with approximately 
another third from France. In 1993 and 1994, Germany and France alone 
produced approximately 20% of the notifications. The significant increase in 
notifications from the EFTA countries in 1993, principally from Austria, 
should also be noted. 
f. The ten principal sub-sectors for national initiatives in the years 1992 to 1994 
are given in Table IV. A high level of initiatives in 1992 can be noted in the 
field of aerospace, building and chemical products. In 1993 and 1994, 
national initiatives are in the main observed in the field of food products, the 
quality of water conveyance and, once again, building. A high level of 
national activity should also be noted in the field of rail construction in 1993 
and in the small mechanized tools sector in 1994. 
The quality of the notifications issued by national standards institutes 
14. The previous report of 1990/1991 indicated that, for the period under consideration, 
there were still problems both with regard to compliance with the notification periods 
and the intrinsic quality of notifications. In this report, the Commission had insisted 
upon additional efforts being made on a national and European level with a view to 
remedying this unsatisfactory situation. This was to be achieved by a critical 
examination of the information system upon a national level and by the 
implementation of a quality assurance system by the Central Secretariat. 
15. Beginning from 1992, the Commission introduced two clauses relating to the quality 
of information into its annual contracts with the CEN and the CENELEC. 
Firstly, the European institute concerned undertook to define clearly the internal rules 
necessary in order to ensure that notifications were accurate, clear and reliable. 
Secondly, the European institute had to provide, within its Central Secretariat, the 
necessary resources for monitoring the quality of the received notifications. 
16. In April 1992, the CEN/CENELEC Work Group, namely the JWG-ESD (Joint Work 
Group - European Standards Databank), adopted certain basic principles relating to 
the new system of notification. In addition, in 1993 the CEN Central Secretariat 
initiated the production of a detailed guide to the system. In September 1993, the 
CENELEC, for its part, updated its manual relating to the "Vilamoura" system. 
17. With regard to the quality of the notifications received, the CEN Central Secretariat, 
in spite of the difficult transition period in 1993, had already initiated during this 
8 
period a systematic examination, the detailed results of which were set out in its 1993 
report. Amongst the most important conclusions, which were confirmed by the CEN's 
1994 report, the following points should be mentioned : 
With regard to respect for the notification obligation, sampling tests have 
shown that members have not avoided this obligation. 
b. Early notification by members seems to be a significant problem. As it stands, 
in 1993 approximately 28% of national initiatives (namely 674 cases) were 
notified only when they had already reached the public screening stage (641 
cases) or even the publication stage (33 cases). An analysis between countries 
showed that approximately half of the German and British initiatives were 
only notified at the public screening stage. Moreover, amongst the 641 late 
notifications which were already at the public screening stage, it was possible 
to observe that approximately 33% did not allow time for any reaction, as a 
result of the fact that they were only sent one or two weeks, or even a few 
days, before the date of closure of the public screening period. This seemed to 
be the case in particular with regard to late notifications from the United 
Kingdom; late notifications from Germany still allowed time for reaction 
within the public screening period. A detailed analysis of 417 late 
notifications in 1994 (being 23% of all national initiatives) revealed a similar 
situation. 
c. As indicated by the CEN in its report, these cases of late notification, which 
arc aggravated by being sent at the end of the public screening period, are in 
complete contradiction with the principles of the infomiation procedure 
provided by the Directive. In spite of the fact that the analysis also showed 
that during the years 1993 and 1994 the proportion of these late notifications 
had fallen, this proportion must be considered to be too high. Measures are 
therefore necessary in this connection. Moreover, this problem was raised in 
the previous report in which this proportion was estimated to be approximately 
one third for the years 1990 and 1991. 
d. Another problem lies in the vague description given of the new projects. The 
CEN Central Secretariat observed that, in several cases, either the notified title 
of the new project was very vague, or the statement explaining the title was 
simply a precise copy of the title. It is obvious that in these circumstances, an 
assessment of the field of application of the notified initiative is made very 
difficult and that, once again, the objective of the information procedure 
cannot be attained. The CEN considers that this problem can be solved by the 
introduction of the detailed guide already mentioned above. 
It has also been observed that sometimes the poor quality of certain 
9 
notifications is due to the complete absence or the erroneous nature of certain 
basic information, such as the sub-sector code, the stage of the draft and even 
its identification number. Despite the fact that greater discipline was 
introduced in 1994 by the CEN Central Secretariat, this kind of problem seems 
to have persisted during this year. 
18. With regard to the CENELEC, a detailed analysis similar to that carried out by the 
CEN is not available for 1993. However, taking into account the existence of the 
internal "Vilamoura" procedure, which contains relatively strict rules of notification, 
and the lower volumes involved, it can be considered that the quality of the 
notifications made by members of the CENELEC is satisfactory. This should 
certainly be the case from January 1993, as confirmed by the CENELEC Central 
Secretariat in its 1994 report. Moreover, this Secretariat drew up, in April 1994, a 
detailed description of the procedure in order to ensure the quality of the information. 
The use of the information received through the procedure 
19. With regard to distribution on a national level of the information resulting from the 
procedure, the Commission has not received recent information from the CEN or the 
CENELEC. An analysis upon this level would seem to be useful now that the 
notification system has been simplified since the beginning of 1993 and, as a 
consequence, the reduced volumes should enable the information to be processed by 
the sectors which are directly concerned. 
20. The application of Article 3 of the Directive, namely the association with national 
initiatives and requests for the development of European standards, still remains 
peripheral. Table V confirms the observations made in previous reports, and in 
particular the fact that within the context of the Directive : 
\ - despite the twofold increase in 1994 in comparison with 1993, the number of 
comments made by the standards institutes remains very low in comparison 
with the number of notifications received; 
requests for participation within the projects of other members remain equally 
minimal; 
requests for the development of European standards are, with the exception of 
a single isolated case submitted by France in 1994, non-existent. 
It can thus once again be concluded from these statistics that the mechanisms 
provided by Article 3 of the Directive are not being used. 
10 
21. In the electro-technics sector, it is nevertheless necessary to take into account the 
application of the "Vilamoura" procedure, as explained in Paragraph 10 above. As it 
stands, this procedure provides, for each new initiative launched by a member, at least 
the same type of participation as that provided by Article 3 of Directive 83/189/EEC. 
In 1994, this procedure enabled 17 and 4 operations, notified over several years, to be 
respectively transferred to the European and international level. 
22. Monitoring of the application of the standstill rule provided by Article 7 of Directive 
83/189/EEC has been carried out on two levels, these being the CEN/CENELEC and 
the Commission. 
Within the CEN Central Secretariat, notifications have formed the subject of a 
periodic examination by technical experts. In 1993 and 1994 respectively, 30 and 60 
cases were examined in detail by the relevant member of the CEN. 
Since the beginning of 1993, the Commission departments have also intensified their 
examination of the notifications received, both in order to monitor the standstill rule 
in comparison with the authorizations sent to the European standards institutes, and in 
order to examine whether it would be appropriate to transfer the notified initiative to 
the European level. Approximately 30 and 76 cases were respectively returned to the 
CEN Central Secretariat in 1993 and 1994. 
It can be observed that in the majority of cases detected by the CEN and the 
Commission departments, responses made by the notifying members seemed to be 
equivocal, to say the least. These responses either indicated that the national initiative 
notified was in fact a draft European standard for public screening upon a national 
level, or that it concerned a preliminary analysis on a national level, which was 
designed as a contribution to European projects currently in progress. 
It. can be observed that, in the first case, there is no obligation to notify and even that 
notification on this subject is excluded under Directive 83/189/EEC. In these 
circumstances, there are definitely other methods of consulting the sectors concerned 
on a national level with regard to initiatives which are in progress upon a European 
level, for example by distributing documents from the technical committees of the 
CEN. In the second case, it must be possible to indicate clearly, from the outset, the 
planned initiative's envisaged objective. 
In future, a systematic monitoring of the application of the standstill rules is thus 
necessary, in addition to a detailed examination of responses made by notifying 
members. 
23. In closing this paragraph relating to the use made of the information received, the 
following points of view may be put forward : 
11 
a. According to the CEN, 1993 should be considered to be a year of transition, 
following the introduction of the new procedure, which encountered some 
difficulties. This institute considers that the experience gained this year does 
not yet enable definite conclusions to be drawn, but it has expressed some 
optimism for the future, as a result of the simplifications which have been 
introduced. 
b. As far as the Commission is concerned, additional conditions must be fulfilled 
in order to ensure a more efficient use of the information received. In the first 
place this relates to a considerable improvement in the information notified 
and the establishment of other organizational measures as stipulated in the 
amended Directive 94/10/EC. 
Information on standardization initiatives in general 
24. Information relating to new standardization initiatives, as provided by the information 
procedure in the field of standards by Directive 83/189/EEC, is only a limited part of 
the information on standardization initiatives. There is the general problem relating to 
information on adopted national standards and on all the standardization initiatives, 
whether in progress or adopted, on the European and international levels. 
As indicated in its second Communication4, the Commission considers it to be 
necessary to have, on all standardization initiatives, information tools which are 
accessible to all the sectors concerned, at reasonable terms. 
Accessibility and transparency regarding standardization initiatives should be one of 
the basic characteristics of the standardization system. Continuous effort should be 
made on a national and European level with a view to satisfying the information 
requirements of all the interested parties. A judicial review of the satisfaction of these 
requirements would appear to be useful. 
25. Upon the European level, the CEN, the CENELEC and the ETSI have issued several 
publications explaining their present initiatives and their adopted standards and listing 
transpositions at national level. In addition, in 1993 the CENELEC established a 
database which included all its initiatives. This database can at present be directly 
accessed by the Central Secretariat personnel, certain members of the CENELEC, the 
Commission departments and the EFTA Secretariat. It is anticipated that in future 
this database will be open to the general public. For its part, the CEN has also 
planned the establishment of a similar database, which will firstly be made accessible 
to its direct contacts. This project is at present under research by the CEN Central 
Secretariat. 
4 COM (92) 491 of 27th November 1992 
12 
There is also a database in existence at the ETSI which is at present accessible to a 
limited number of people. 
26. The PERINORM information service, which is distributed monthly on a CD-ROM 
compact disk, initially containing British, French and German standardization 
initiatives, has been extended on several levels : the standardization initiatives of other 
national institutes, of the European CEN and CENELEC institutes, and of the 
international ISO and CEI institutes. This commercial service includes bibliographic 
references for adopted standards as well as for standards which are at the public 
screening stage. 
This service is permanently distributed through several national standards institutes 
and some private companies, and has approximately one thousand subscribers. 
Despite the fact that there is no research in existence relating to the users' satisfaction, 
it can be considered that this product genuinely responds to market needs. 
The Commission finances subscriptions to this service for thirty Euro Information 
Centres, considered to be those most concerned with this field, covering a wide 
geographical area. This should enable some response to be made, taking into account 
the Commission's limited financial resources, to the requirements of the small and 
medium sized enterprises. 
Additional CD-ROM products, containing the full texts of standards and draft 
standards, have recently been placed on the market. There are, amongst others, 
approximately 80 sets of standards published by the private firm IHS-Information 
Handling Services, and distributed by several national standards institutes. 
Planning and standardization authorizations 
27. Pursuant to Article 6, Paragraph 3 of the Directive, the Standing Committee delivered 
in the years from 1992 to 1994, assent in favour of 32, 22 and 46 authorizations 
respectively (see Table Via, b, c in appendix). Some of these authorizations relate to 
implementation of Directives of the "New Approach" type, adopted for realizing the 
Internal Market. Other authorizations have been issued, principally in support of 
other Community policies : authorizations in the field of information technology and 
some authorizations in the field of telecommunications come within the context of the 
implementation of industrial policy and the correct operation of the Internal Market. 
Authorizations which relate to methods used in measuring toxic substances are 
principally issued in support of the environmental Directives. The planning 
authorization, which relates to air traffic control equipment and systems, comes within 
the context of the implementation of Council Directive 93/65/EEC5. Several 
• standardization authorizations were issued in 1994 in order to support the 
implementation of the energy policy. 
O.J.C. L 187 of 29.07.93 
13 
Actions to improve the present system and implement the revised procedure provided 
by the amended Directive 94/10/EC. 
28. The previous report of 1990/1991 had emphasized the importance of revising the 
technical operation of the information procedure for standards provided by Directive 
83/189/EEC. With this in mind, the Commission proposed an amendment to this 
Directive on 27th November 1992, which was adopted on 23rd March 1994 by the 
European Parliament and the Council, but which did not come into force until 1 st July 
1995. 
The Commission is pleased that the CEN and the CENELEC have, within their sphere 
of competence, already implemented several of the basic principles stipulated in the 
amended Directive 94/10/EC since the beginning of 1993. In particular, the 
CENELEC's "Vilamoura" procedure, in association with the procedure outlined in 
Directive 83/189/EEC, must be considered now to be effective. 
29. The analysis of the quality of the notifications made in 1993 and 1994 by the CEN, as 
well as the assessment of the use made of the information collected during this period, 
shows however that it is necessary to implement several more application measures in 
the short term, on both a European and national level, in order to attain the objectives 
of the amended Directive in the non-electrical sector. 
30. On a European level, action can be envisaged by the Commission and the European 
standards institutes. 
a. For its part, the Commission has, from the beginning of 1993, inserted into the 
annual contracts with the CEN and the CENELEC, amongst others, two 
measures to facilitate the implementation of the revised procedure. Firstly, 
this relates to the obligation to define the new notification regulations within a 
determined period. The second clause requires the Central Secretariats of 
these institutes to set up the necessary resources for monitoring the quality of 
notifications. 
b. Whilst respecting the principle that it is a matter for the European standards 
institutes to define operating methods, the Commission is minded to co­
operate directly with these institutes on this planning, as well to facilitate the 
introduction of other measures. It is, moreover, in this context that the 
Commission has supported the CENELEC in establishing its new databank by 
becoming connected with it as one of the first external paying users. 
31. The Commission considers that in addition to the first action taken by the CEN, 
* namely a detailed examination of the quality of notifications, other actions are 
necessary in order to attain a significant improvement in this quality as well as in the 
speed of notification. 
14 
a. Firstly, it is necessary to publish a detailed guide for CEN members, which 
should include strict and clear notification rules. Additionally, information 
and training days for those directly involved could, for example, be 
considered. 
b. It is also essential to maintain and even strengthen the resources within the 
CEN Central Secretariat, in order to monitor the quality of the information in 
direct association with those making the notifications, and in order to 
introduce a genuine system of quality assurance. A more frequent report than 
at present upon aspects of quality and timing would additionally appear to be 
very useful. 
32. With the entry into force of the amended Directive half way through 1995, the 
Commission considers that necessary measures should also be taken on a national 
level and that initiatives should be launched with a view to ensuring from the outset 
the efficient operation of the revised procedure. 
a. At a national level, it is firstly a matter for the Member States to take measures 
connected with transposing the amended Directive 94/10/EC. This should 
create a legal framework which will enable their standards institutes to comply 
with the obligations specified in the new regulations specified in this 
Directive, and with the regulations established within the European standards 
institutes. 
Monitoring the transposition of Directive 94/10/EC, as well as the 
establishment of agreements between the governments and the national 
standards institutes can only encourage the implementation of the revised 
procedure. 
b. The national institutes, for their part, should examine the need for revising and 
adapting their systems of notification, particularly with regard to quality and to 
forwarding notifications within the required periods. In effect, the analysis 
carried out in 1993 and again in 1994 once again confirms that there are 
permanent weaknesses on this level. With regard to the use made of the 
information, it also appears necessary to re-examine the present system of 
distribution and to promote the interest of the relevant sectors in the 
information provided by the new procedure. 
Conclusions 
33. ' Up until 1993, the number of new national standardization initiatives remained stable, 
at the level already attained during previous years. With the introduction of the 
simplified procedure in 1994, as stipulated by Directive 94/10/EC, this number was 
reduced to around 75% of this level. At the present time, however, it is impossible to 
15 
say whether this improvement is due to this rationalization or to an actual reduction in 
national initiatives. It is therefore necessary' to view this situation with caution. As 
indicated previously, it is necessary for the economic sectors concerned to assess 
whether this level is acceptable and whether it will prevent disruptions to the 
operation of the Internal Market. A vigilant and continuous monitoring remains 
nevertheless necessary, in view of the high proportion of specific initiatives and in 
view of the latent risks involved in allocating resources as a priority upon a national 
rather than a European level, thus risking transgressing European stability. 
Upon a European level, the Commission has observed a significant reduction in new 
initiatives, particularly since 1993. This is principally due to the adaptation of 
planning policy by the European standards institutes. It relates, amongst other things, 
to the decision to respect commitments already undertaken in the past, to place more 
emphasis upon the application of co-operation agreements with the international 
standards institutes, and to becoming limited to a genuinely feasible working 
programme, taking account of the fact that resources are increasingly limited. 
34. With regard to the operation of the procedure, the Commission considers that the 
experience of 1993 and 1994 has shown that several measures should be taken in the 
short term on a European and national level in order to make the revised procedures 
under the amended Directive 94/10/EC genuinely efficient. It is a matter for all the 
parties concerned to take, from now on, responsibility for attaining the objectives of 
the amended Directive 94/10/EC. In fact, these objectives, in addition to the revised 
resources for attaining them, have been laid down and defined in direct co-operation 
and by mutual agreement with all the parties. 
16 
CHAPTER II 
THE NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE IN THE FIELD OF 
TECHNICAL REGULATIONS 
Introduction 
35. The present chapter describes the development of the procedure provided by Directive 
83/189/EEC in the field of technical regulations. It examines the flow of information 
exchanged, particularly with regard to problems of application and the various 
reactions by the Commission and the Member States, in addition to the various 
responses to the procedure. 
Brief description of the procedure applicable to technical regulations 
36. Under the terms of Article 8, Paragraph 1 of Directive 83/189/EEC, the Member 
States are obliged to send all draft technical regulations to the Commission, unless 
these relate simply to a full transposition of an international or European standard. 
37. Beginning from the date of notification to the Commission, a standstill period of three 
months begins, during which the Member State which has made the notification 
cannot adopt the technical regulation in question. This standstill period is provided in 
order to enable the other Member States and the Commission to react to the 
notification. The following stage of the procedure will be dependent upon the content 
of this reaction : 
a. If the Member States and/or the Commission do not wish to issue a reaction, 
the Member State which has made the notification can adopt the draft 
regulation upon the expiry of the three months standstill period. 
b. If the Member States and/or the Commission make comments pursuant to 
Article 8, Paragraph 2 of the Directive, the Member State which has made the 
notification must then, in as far as possible, take these comments into account 
in the subsequent work of developing the technical regulation. 
c. In accordance with Article 9, Paragraph 1 of the Directive, the Member States 
and/or the Commission can issue a detailed opinion if they consider that the 
draft regulations could risk creating barriers to the free movement of goods. In 
this case, the Member State concerned will put back the adoption of its draft 
regulation by six months from the date of the notification and will inform the 
Commission of the ways in which it intends to respond to this detailed 
opinion. 
• d. The Commission can also react to the notification in two other ways : 
17 
it can make known its intention of proposing or deciding upon a 
Directive which is applicable to the same field as the notified draft 
(Article 9, Paragraph 2 of the Directive). The Member State concerned 
must then put back the adoption of the technical regulation by twelve 
months from the date of notification; 
it can observe that a proposal for a Directive relating to the same 
subject as the notified draft has already been submitted to the Council 
(Article 9, Paragraph 2 a). In this case, the Member State concerned 
will suspend the adoption of the technical regulations for a period of 
twelve months from the date upon which the proposal for the Directive 
was submitted to the Council. 
38. Article 9, Paragraph 3 of the Directive makes provision for an urgent procedure, in 
certain circumstances, for the immediate adoption of national draft regulations. If a 
Member State wishes to adopt a technical regulation for urgent reasons which relate to 
the protection of public health, safety, or the protection of the health and life of 
animals and plants, it can request the application of this procedure without being 
obliged to respect the standstill period. The notification must state the reasons which 
justify the urgency of the measures, the Commission then giving a decision regarding 
the justification for the urgent procedure. 
Article 8, Paragraph 3 provides that the final text of the notified regulation should be 
sent to the Commission, at the request of other Member States or the Commission. 
39. The Commission plays a deciding role in the progress of the procedure. It is 
responsible for distributing notified drafts to the Member States, as well as other 
messages which pass between the Commission and the Member States, in addition to 
having these texts translated in order to facilitate the correct operation of the 
procedure. 
40. The Standing Committee, which is composed of representatives of the Member States 
(provided by Article 5 of the Directive) is a consultative body which meets 
approximately six times each year and plays an important role in supervising the 
progress of the procedure and in examining policy questions raised by the 
notifications. 
Application of the procedure 
A. The volume of notifications 
Breakdown by country 
41. The statistics in Table VII of the Annex show that the Commission received 362 draft 
technical regulations in 1992, 385 in 1993 and 389 in 1994. The total number of 
notifications received each successive year is relatively stable. 
As can be seen in Chart 1, most of the notified draft regulations in 1992, 1993 and 
1994 came, as in the years before, from Germany, France and the United Kingdom. 
But whereas France shows a more or less constant pattern in the number of notified 
draft regulations, both Germany and the United Kingdom show a fluctuation in the 
number of notified draft regulations. In 1994, Germany signed responsible for a 
quarter of the total number of notifications received, followed by the United Kingdom 
with 16% and France with 15%>. In 1993, it was the United Kingdom who signed for 
more than a quarter of the total number of notifications received, followed by 
Germany with 21% and France with 17%. In 1992, all three countries signed for 
about 20%) each of the total notifications received. 
Chart 1 
120 T Number of Notifications per Member State 1992-1994 
Member States 
Breakdown by sector 
42. A breakdown by sector (Tables VIII to X of the Annex) shows that 85% of the 
notifications received over the three year period concerned the same five sectors : 
" Telecommunications, Agriculture and Food Products, Mechanical Engineering, 
Building and Construction and Transport. In 1992, the four largest sectors were 
Telecommunications (24.6%), Agriculture and Food Products (21.3%>), Building and 
Construction (15.2%) and Transport (10%). The four largest sectors in 1993 were 
19 
Telecommunications (34%), Transport (13.5%o), Agriculture and Food Products (13%o) 
and Mechanical Engineering (9.6%). In 1994, the four largest sectors were 
Telecommunications (28%), Mechanical Engineering (19%o), Agriculture and Food 
Products (16.7%) and Building and Construction (15.2%). The most striking 
development which can be seen in Chart 2 is the dominance of the 
telecommunications sector in 1993 and 1994. In 1993 more than a third of the 
notified drafts concerned Telecommunications, whereby the United Kingdom signed 
for almost 50% of all notifications in this sector. In 1994, telecommunications 
notifications accounted for almost a third of all the notifications in the sector whereby 
the United Kingdom and Germany together signed for almost half of the notifications. 
Chart 2 
Number of Notifications per Sector 1992-1994 
140 
E 
3 
Sector 
Application problems 
43. Numerous notifications relating to national regulations for proprietary names and 
registered designations of origin relating to certain agricultural products were made 
the subject of application of the procedure under Directive 89/189/EEC in 1992 and 
1993 in the agricultural sector. The desire to protect the geographical origin of 
identifiable agricultural or food products has led some Member States to establish 
"certified designations of origin". These national practices, often disparate, led the 
Commission to propose to the Council that a Community approach be adopted in 
order to provide a system of protection to guarantee equivalent conditions of 
competition between the producers. Regulation 2081/92 was adopted by the Council 
on 14th July 1992 and laid down an obligation from 24th July 1993, for Member 
States wishing to obtain Community protection, of informing the Commission of 
designations of origin and geographical ascriptions relating to agricultural or food 
products. 
20 
44. Consequently, as a result of Article 1, Paragraph 3 of the Regulation concerned, which 
stipulates that Directive 83/189/EEC does not apply either to designations of origin or 
geographical ascriptions, technical regulations covering provisions relating to these 
designations of origin no longer form the subject of a notification under Directive 
83/189/EEC. The same principle applies within the context of Regulation 2083/92, 
relating to certificates of identity of agricultural and food products (Article 1, 
Paragraph 3). This situation may in part explain the fall in the number of notifications 
from the agricultural sector during the years 1993 and 1994. 
45. The Commission has also examined, within the context of Directive 83/189, some 
national drafts which were adopted partly with the objective of codifying legislation 
which was already in existence but which was made up of several legislative 
instruments and partly in order to add new provisions to those already in existence. 
Concerns expressed by the Member States that these codifying provisions should not 
lead to decisions by the Commission which may result, amongst other things, in 
extending the standstill period beyond the three months stipulated in the Directive, led 
the Commission to adopt the practice of discriminating amongst these drafts, 
principally for adoption in the field of agricultural and food products, between those 
sections actually under proposal and those which related to codification, so that 
examination could be limited to the former. 
46. Finally, the Commission has observed, regarding the management of the procedure, 
the need to ensure that the Member States observe the obligation stipulated in Article 
8, Paragraph 3 of the Directive, which states "upon the express request of a Member 
State or of the Commission, the final text of a technical regulation must be sent 
immediately". Along with this obligation, as the Commission is aware, there must be 
a systematic monitoring of acceptance of the definitive text and a detailed 
examination of the final text for the purpose of the correct application of Directive 
83/189 (adoption of the text of the notified draft with due regard for the procedure 
concerned, without modification calling for a new notification) and for Community 
law as a whole (adoption of the text having taken into consideration any possible 
objections expressed by the Commission departments to the draft concerned). The 
Commission, through concern for respect for the principle of transparency 
implemented by Directive 83/189, undertakes to ensure that the tasks necessary for 
such monitoring are carried out as mentioned above. 
B) Use of the urgent adoption procedure 
47, In 1992, 1993 and 1994, the Member States made 44 requests for application of the 
urgent adoption procedure. These represented only about 4% of the technical 
. regulations notified in those three years, a similar order of magnitude to the 5%> of all 
notifications in 1990 and 1991. The Commission found only one fourth (11) of these 
requests justified; seven related to Agriculture and Food Products, one to Chemical 
Products, two to Transport and one to Health and Medical Equipment. 
21 
C) Reactions by the Commission 
48. In 1992, the Commission reacted upon 62%) of the total number of notifications. In 
1993, the Commission reacted upon 55% and in 1994 the Commission reacted upon 
69%) of the notifications. These reactions were made in the form of comments, 
detailed opinions or the announcement of the intention to propose a directive. It is 
also quite common that a notification is subject to a combination of more than one 
reaction from the Commission. 
Chart 3 
250 Number of Reactions per Type 1992-1994 
11992 
11993 
11994 
8.2 MS 8.2 EC 8.2 EFTA 9.1 MS 9.1 EC 
Type of Reaction 9.2 9.2a 
Comments 
i) Statistics 
49. In the period 1992 until 1994, the Commission made comments on 46% of the total 
number of notifications. This percentage has slightly increased compared with the 
years 1990 and 1991, where the Commission made comments on 42%> of the total 
number of notifications. 
ii) Reasons 
50. Generally, the comments made by the Commission seek the clarification needed to 
allow its relevant departments to examine the drafts, express the Commission's 
position or remind the Member State concerned of commitments given in an 
infringement procedure or in an earlier notification. 
51. The Commission also opted for this response where the other possibilities were no 
longer open, particularly where proposals for Community measures had been before 
the Council for over one year, thus precluding recourse to Article 9(2(a)) of the 
Directive. 
22 
52. It is also important to indicate the practice developed, during the years 1992, 1993 and 
1994, by which the Commission uses comments in order to raise objections to 
existing texts which the notified draft refers to or uses as its legal basis. As it stands, 
the notification procedure gives the Commission departments the opportunity of 
learning of these texts and assessing their impact upon Community law. The 
Commission has also adopted the practice, in these comments, of laying down 
response deadlines for the Member States concerned in order to obtain an efficient 
and rapid method of resolving situations which, as a result of former legislation, 
restrict the correct application of drafts notified under Directive 83/189/EEC. 
53. Part of the comments made by the Commission departments is also constituted by 
having observed a standardization initiative, within the European standards institutes, 
in the field to which the notified draft relates. The Commission departments must 
limit their reaction to comments since this type of "European harmonization" does not 
prevent the Member States from adopting technical regulations which relate to the 
same subject but which inevitably hinder the work of these institutes. In this way, 
national regulations deflect the standstill which exists, on the other hand, for drafts of 
national standardization, within the national standards institutes. 
54. Since October 1993 and subsequent to the conclusion of the Agreement on the 
European Economic Area between the twelve Member States of the European Union 
and four members of EFTA, the Commission has sent comments to the Member 
States drawing their attention to the entry into force of this Agreement on 1 st January 
1994. These comments sought in particular to act as a reminder that the principle of 
mutual recognition arising from Article 30 of the EC Treaty, as interpreted by the 
Court of Justice, should also be applied to the movement of goods between the 
Member States of the Union and the Member States of EFTA who had signed this 
Agreement. As it stands, under the terms of Article 6 of the Agreement, the existing 
case law of the Court of Justice interpreting Article 30 of the EC Treaty upon the date 
of entry into force of the Agreement, is extended to the provisions of the latter with 
regard to the free movement of goods (Articles 11 to 13). 
55. These comments have had positive results. In fact, in the large and even leading 
sectors (for example Telecommunications Equipment or Building Products), clauses 
of mutual recognition which take account of the system introduced by the European 
Economic Area Agreement are automatically inserted into drafts notified by the 
Member States, as well as into the basic regulations within the context of which some 
of the notified drafts will enter. This development took place quite quickly in 
practice. In effect, most of the Member States have had to extend a system which was 
in most cases already stipulated in their regulations for Community products or those 
freely moving within the Community, to products originating from the Member States 
of EFTA which signed the agreement. 
23 
Detailed Opinion 
i) Statistics 
56. In 1992, 1993 and 1994, the Commission delivered 357 detailed opinions (i.e. on 31%) 
of the draft technical regulations; in 1990 and 1991 the figure was 37%). The 
Commission delivers detailed opinions if the draft regulations notified might create 
barriers to the free movement of goods (Article 9.1. of the Directive). 
ii) Reasons 
a) The principle of mutual recognition 
57. The absence of provisions ensuring respect for the principle of mutual recognition 
continued to be the point most frequently raised by the Commission in the detailed 
opinions which it delivered against drafts notified by the Member States during 1992 
and 1993 (59% and 53%) respectively). During 1994, absence of respect for this 
principle represented 37% of the detailed opinions delivered by the Commission. In 
fact there has been some change in the handling of this issue recently. Years of 
practice in the notification procedure have enabled the Member States to develop a 
good understanding of the principle of mutual recognition. - The Commission 
departments thus now try to draw the Member States' attention to the need for 
ensuring that the necessary clauses are present at the highest possible level in the 
structure of applicable regulations. 
As it stands, the Member States most often notify draft technical specifications 
relating to products for which application exists within the framework of more general 
regulations governing the approval or inspection of product conformity. In so far as 
these general regulations stipulate the acceptance of products which are lawfully 
manufactured and/or marketed within the other Member States, technical 
specifications which are notified at the draft stage already benefit from the system of 
mutual recognition provided by the basic regulations. Through concern for clarity 
and legal certainty, the Commission requests the Member States if necessary to state, 
in the notified drafts, the provisions of the basic regulations which relate to mutual 
recognition, in order to ensure that economic operators, who search through technical 
specifications for the requirements which must be fulfilled in order to gain access to 
the markets of the various Member States, are correctly informed. On the other hand, 
the principle of mutual recognition also operates in relation to certificates proving 
conformity of products to national regulations and in relation to the national bodies 
designated to issue new certificates. 
58. The Commission has also had the opportunity of deciding against other requirements 
likely to create barriers to the movement of goods which are not directly linked with 
mutual recognition. These requirements relate in particular to markings, to the use of 
languages in labelling, to specifications relating to the ingredients or materials used in 
24 
product manufacture, to limits upon the use of dangerous substances, and also 
requirements relating to the arrangements for certain approval procedures (for 
example, the establishment of marketing arrangements in the Member State in order 
to gain access to the approval procedure). 
As it stands, the Commission requests the Member States not only to ensure the 
mutual recognition of products from other Member States in response to a level of 
protection of the legitimate interests concerned, which is equivalent to that provided 
by the notified drafts, but also that material requirements relating to the products 
which are considered to be excessive with regard to these same interests should be 
eliminated or reduced to a reasonable level. It is not sufficient for the Member States 
to accept products from other Member States which are "equivalent" to theirs. In so 
far as this acceptance is based on a statement of equivalence with national 
requirements, it is important to ensure that these are not themselves excessive, failing 
which products which respond satisfactorily to the legitimate objectives envisaged by 
the regulations (health and safety, etc..) may encounter unjustified difficulties in 
entering the market of the recipient Member State. 
b) Other provisions of secondary legislation 
59. Amongst the other reasons leading to the delivery of a detailed opinion are the non­
conformity of the draft with a directive or a community regulation relating to the same 
issues. During the years 1992, 1993 and 1994, the number of detailed opinions based 
upon objections other than that of breach of the principle of mutual recognition 
increased considerably : in 1992, 41%> of total detailed opinions, in 1993, 47% and in 
1994, 63%). (In 1990 and 1991 these detailed opinions represented only 12% of the 
total). It should also be observed that whereas in 1992 a third of this 41%) related to 
infringements of Directive 79/112/EEC relating to the labelling and presentation of 
food products destined for the final consumer in addition to the advertising of these 
products, in 1993 the percentage relating to this directive fell to 9%. In fact in 1993, 
41% of the detailed opinions delivered by the Commission were based upon 
infringements of Directive 89/336/EEC relating to electromagnetic compatibility and 
34%) upon infringements of Directive 73/23/EEC relating to electrical equipment 
designed to be used within certain voltage limits ("low voltage" directive"). In 1994, 
41% of these detailed opinions were based upon infringements of Directive 
89/336/EEC relating to electromagnetic compatibility. 
60. It is also important to indicate that 8%> of the detailed opinions delivered by the 
Commission in 1993 consisted of breaches of the transitional periods of certain 
Community directives (89/336/EEC mentioned above, 90/396/EEC on gas appliances, 
and 89/392/EEC on machinery). The Commission departments place emphasis on 
reminding the Member States of the obligation to respect the transitional periods of 
Community instruments determined by the legislature; as it stands these are adopted 
in order to provide an adequate period during which the marketing of products 
25 
manufactured in accordance with national regulations in force before the 
implementation of the direction concerned is authorized. Thus the Commission 
departments consider that the Member States do not have the right to legislate in the 
fields covered by the directives in question, in the absence of reasons which are duly 
justified. 
iii) Responses 
61. Article 9.1 (2), of the Directive stipulates an obligation for the Member State which 
receives a detailed opinion to "report to the Commission upon the response which it 
intends to give to this detailed opinion. The Commission will comment upon this 
response". On the basis of this Article, a dialogue is set up between the Member 
States and the Commission departments such that an appropriate response is made to 
decisions made by the Commission which are delivered with a formal request to the 
Member State concerned to amend or adapt the notified draft as a result of an 
infringement of Community law. 
62. It is important also to indicate in this respect that the Commission organizes a 
systematic monitoring of the responses from Member States through the Directive's 
Committee by entering upon its agenda a list of notifications regarding which the 
Member States have not supplied a response and requesting them to provide 
explanations for this. (See Point 6.1. below "Committee Meetings 83/189). 
Intention to propose a directive 
63. In the period 1992 - 1994, the Commission announced that it intended to propose a 
Directive covering the same subject as the notified draft in 32 cases. In 1992, the 
Commission announced that it intended to propose a Directive covering the same 
subject as the notified draft in 18 cases, in 1993 in 5 cases and in 1994 in 9 cases. 
Most of these notifications in 1992 related to Agriculture and Food Products (6), 
Health and Medical Equipment (4), Transport and Packaging (3) and Chemistry (3). 
In 1993, one notification related to Agriculture and Food Products, one to Chemistry, 
one to Mechanical Engineering, one to Transport and one to Telecommunications. In 
1994, two notifications related to Agriculture and Food Products and six to 
Telecommunications. 
Submission of a proposal to the Council 
64. • In 1992, the Commission applied Article 9.2 (a) in 25 cases and in 1993 in five cases. 
In 1994 the Commission did not apply this Article. Most of these notifications in 
1992 related to Agriculture and Food Products (13), Mechanical Engineering (3) and 
Transport and Packaging (3). In 1993, one notification related to Agriculture and 
26 
Food Products and four to Mechanical Engineering. 
65. The application of Article 9.2 (a) implies that the Member States cannot adopt the 
draft in question within a period of one year from the date of submission of the 
proposal of the Community instrument to the Council. The objective is to defer the 
application of a regulation covering the same field of application as a harmonization 
proposal upon a Community level. The figures show, however, that this period has 
not proved to be long enough for the Council to adopt the proposed instrument. With 
regard to 1992 cases, only six of the twenty-five decisions made by the Commission 
led to the adoption of the proposal in question by the Council in the standstill period. 
The other sixteen decisions led to the adoption of Community instruments after the 
proposal had been before the Council for more than a year, with the exception of four 
cases where the proposals were not adopted at all. With regard to cases in 1994, none 
of the five applications of Article 9.2.(a) led to the adoption by the Council of the 
Community instrument within the standstill period. 
D. Reactions by the Member States 
66. In 1992, 50%) of the notified drafts were made the subject of comments by the other 
Member States, whereas in 1993 this percentage was only 34% and in 1994, 31%. 
With regard to detailed opinions, the delivery of such a decision by the other Member 
States on notifications amounted to 18%o in 1992, 19% in 1993 and 16% in 1994. 
It often happens that several Member States make comments or deliver detailed 
opinions on the same notification. In 1992 nearly 50% and in 1993 nearly 60% of the 
notifications which caused a reaction from more than two Member States related to 
Agriculture and Food Products. 30%> in 1992 and 23% in 1993 related to notifications 
relating to environmental problems. In 1994, the sector most concerned was again 
Agriculture and Food Products, with 35%, followed by Domestic Appliances with 
24%. 
E. Dealing with infringements 
67. At the end of 1992, the Commission entered into a contract with a new private 
organization with a view to carrying out the task of detecting national technical 
regulations which are adopted in infringement of Directive 89/189/EEC. 
The reports drawn up by the contractor for the years 1993 and 1994 made it possible 
for the first time to gain some idea of all the Member States initiatives in the sphere of 
• technical regulations. Thus, as shown in Diagram 4 below, in 1993 and 1994 a total 
of some 4340 national laws were revealed. Approximately 45% were transpositions 
of Community Directives, 13%) were technical regulations notified at draft stage 
within the context of Directive 83/189/EEC, 10% were designations of origin and 
27 
geographical ascriptions6 , and approximately 32% of the technical laws were not 
notified under the Directive or were outside its field of application. This last 32% 
(being approximately 1400 texts) were analyzed to find whether they should have 
been notified under Directive 83/189/EEC. 
Following this examination, it appeared that the vast majority of these texts did not 
come within the field of application of the Directive. 85 technical laws, being 2% of 
the texts discovered, were made the subject of infringement proceedings. 36 
infringement proceedings were instigated in 1992. 
68. In accordance with the Commission's position on this subject, which has been 
expressed on several occasions at meetings of the Committee (see Point 6.1. below), 
and bilaterally in the meetings between the Commission and the Central Units of the 
Member States responsible for application of the 83/189 procedure (see Point 6.3. 
below), the majority of the Member States proposed to repeal the disputed law andVor 
notify a new draft if necessary. Some Member States did, however, refuse to suspend 
the texts in question. Thus, for the period 1992-1994, nine cases were referred before 
the Court of Justice. 
69. The Court's first ruling was given on 2nd August 1993 (Case C-139/92, Commission 
V. Italy). The ruling established precisely and clearly the binding nature of Articles 8 
and 9 of Directive 83/189/EEC and gave the Commission the opportunity in the future 
of specifying the relationship which exists between the obligation of prior notification 
provided by Article 8 and the standstill clause of Article 9. Meanwhile, three rulings 
on five cases sentenced the Member States concerned for non-respect for the 
obligations contained in the Directive. 
Chart 4 Breakdown of national laws adopted in 1993 and 1994 
• Infringement 
proceedings 
2% 
• Justified non­
notifications 
Transposition of 
Directives 
45% 
Q Designations of 
Origin 
10% 
Notifcations* 
13% 
* Of 4340 items of legislation adopted, 580 related to notified texts 
Following the entry into force in July 1993 of Regulations 2081/92 and 2082/92 relating to 
designations of origin and geographical ascriptions which exclude the application of Directive 
89/189/EEC from drafts under these regulations, examination of these texts under the Directive was 
terminated. 
28 
F. Responses to the procedure 
83/189 Committee Meetings : 
70. The Committee Meetings provided in Article 5 of Directive 83/189 (composed of 
representatives appointed by the Member States) have enabled the Commission 
departments and the Member States to hold discussions and exchanges of views on 
points of general interest or upon specific points concerning certain parties. 
In 1992, 1993 and 1994, the Committee met on sixteen occasions (six in 1992, five in 
1993 and five in 1994). It is in principle anticipated that the meetings will be held 
every two months. With regard to the technical regulations section, the Committee 
has had the opportunity of discussing several topics of general significance. It was 
particularly concerned with the draft amendment of Directive 83/189 (Directive 
94/10/EC of 23rd March 1994) which the Commission submitted to the Committee 
well before submitting the definitive text of the proposal. This draft formed the 
subject of three meetings (24th January, 27th February and 8th April 1992) with a 
detailed examination, article by article, of the Commission's working document. 
71. Other general subjects were discussed: exchanges by electronic mail (X 400); the 
problem of the overlap between Procedure 83/189 and other notification procedures 
(Article 100B of the Treaty, "designations of origin" and "contaminants"); practical 
solutions for settling infringement proceedings for non-notification under Directive 
83/189; a list of notifications for which the Member States have not supplied the 
Commission with a response to a detailed opinion. A special mention should be made 
of the entry into force of the European Economic Area Agreement. Several meetings 
dealt with this subject, during the course of which the Commission departments 
informed the representatives of the Member States of the legal and practical 
consequences of this Agreement coming into force. 
72. In 1994 the Committee also adopted a list of national authorities, other than the 
central governments, whose technical regulations enter within the field of application 
of Directive 83/189/EEC, as amended by Directive 94/10/EC. As it stands, this new 
Directive provides in Article 1.9. that this list will be drawn up by the Committee 
stipulated by the Directive. 
73. In addition, the Committee also had the opportunity of discussing specific notified 
drafts and problems which have arisen in application of these drafts. During these 
discussions, the representatives of the Member States together tried, with the active 
assistance of the Commission departments, to find concrete solutions or to request 
other delegations to give explanations regarding the implementation of certain 
regulations. 
29 
"Group " Meetings 
74. The practice of holding "group" meetings, which has been established for a number of 
years, has enabled the Commission departments to continue their direct contacts with 
the national authorities responsible for drawing up technical regulations. Also, a 
direct discussion between the representatives of the national government departments 
concerned and the Commission departments responsible for examining notified draft 
regulations, can if necessary be added to the exchange of views which takes place 
within the context of the information procedure. These contacts also enable an 
appropriate co-ordination of the search for solutions which are in accordance with 
Community law in cases of complaint or infringement regarding the free movement of 
goods which the Commission departments have to deal with, and regarding the 
notification procedure, in as much as the adoption of new technical regulations by the 
Member States is often necessary in order to settle assumed or observed infringements 
of national regulations. 
75. In 1992, 1993 and 1994, "group" meetings were held with the German, Spanish, 
French, Portuguese, Greek, Dutch and Italian authorities. The sectors which were 
most frequently discussed at these meetings were particularly food products and 
telecommunications equipment. 
Meetings with the Central Governments of the Member States : 
76. The Commission made an effort during 1992, 1993 and 1994 to establish a dialogue 
with the national governments responsible for the application of Directive 
83/189/EEC. These meetings took place within the context of meetings of the 
Directive Committee or within that of the group meetings organized in the Member 
States. They also enabled numerous infringement proceedings to be undertaken, 
brought by the Commission for non-notification under the Directive, from the first 
stages to the case being closed. They also provide an opportunity for dealing with the 
practical problems which can arise in the application of the procedure and enable the 
Central Governments to meet the Commission officials who are responsible for 
administering Directive 83/189. 
Ad Hoc Meetings : 
77. The Commission's departments continue to monitor certain cases which may give rise 
to disputes between the Member States and economic operators, between one Member 
State and another, or between the Member States and the Commission departments. 
The ad hoc meetings which have been organized by the Commission have assisted the 
parties concerned to reach agreement upon points of dispute. Meetings therefore took 
30 
place in 1992, 1993 and 1994 concerning fields such as low voltage (plugs and 
sockets, microwave ovens), electromagnetic compatibility (the application of 
European standards covering aspects of Directive 89/336/EEC) or the environment 
(paint standards, fuel emissions). 
31 
Conclusions and prospects 
78. The assessment of the years 1992, 1993 and 1994 is characterized by a slight fall in 
the number of notifications recorded in comparison with former years and confirms 
the significance of the telecommunications sector, particularly in the 1993 and 1994 
figures. This increase in the telecommunications sector over the agriculture and food 
products sector had already appeared in previous years, particularly in 1991. 
79. It is also important to indicate that, even through the content has undoubtedly changed 
in comparison with former years (see Paragraph 3.2.1. above), the total number of 
detailed opinions did not fall in 1992, 1993 and 1994 (33% of notifications in 1992, 
35% of notifications in 1993 and 25% in 1994, compared with 32.5% in 1991). The 
Commission's main concern is still the application of the principle of mutual 
recognition, but the application of certain Community instruments (Directives on 
"electromagnetic compatibility", "labelling" and "low voltage") have constituted the 
legal basis for a continually increasing number of detailed opinions. 
80. The application of the 83/189/EEC procedure in the coming years will take place 
amongst significant change. The membership of certain of the EFTA countries from 
January 1995 will drastically change the total volume of applications of this procedure 
- under the Directive. Similarly, the entry into force on 1st July 1995 of the Directive 
containing the second amendment to Directive 83/189/EEC (Directive 94/10/EC of 
23rd March 1994) will bring about substantial revisions to the application of the 
Directive's rules and procedures. 
32 
CHAPTER HI 
EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION ON TECHNICAL REGULATIONS 
BETWEEN THE EEC AND THE EFTA COUNTRIES 
Introduction 
81. The Agreement between the EFTA countries and the EEC laying down a Procedure 
for the Exchange of Information in the field of Technical Regulations entered into 
force in November 1990 (Council Decision 90/518/EEC) for an initial period of two 
years. Consequently, the Agreement expired on 1st November 1992. The EEA 
Agreement, which lays down a system similar to that of the Agreement, did not enter 
into force until 1st January 1994. The Agreement concluded by Council Decision 
90/518/EEC was extended for the period from November 1992 until December 1993 
by means of bilateral agreements in the form of an exchange of letters. 
With a view to avoiding possible barriers to trade between the Member States of both 
associations, the Agreement links the information procedure based on Directive 
83/189/EEC with the comparable procedure between the EFTA countries. 
82. In 1994, the EEA Agreement contained the 83/189/EEC Directive in Annex II Part 
XIX with the necessary adaptations. 
From the entry into force of the EEA Agreement, although the Swiss Confederation is 
not a contracting part of this Agreement, both parts, the Community and the Swiss, 
continue to apply the exchange of information procedure. 
The operation of the procedure 
83. All the messages relating to the information procedure between the EEC Member 
States and the EFTA countries were exchanged in the years 1992 and 1993 between 
the Commission of the European Communities and the EFTA Council. From 1994, 
the procedure operated between the Commission and the EFTA Surveillance 
Authority of the EEA Agreement. 
From the date of receipt of a draft regulation by the EFTA Council (in the case of 
notifications from EFTA countries) or the Commission (for notifications from the 
EEC Member States), a standstill period of three months begins during which the 
notifying State may not adopt the text. The EFTA Council and the Community may 
comment upon the draft technical regulations notified under this procedure. The 
Commission formulates the Community's comments in consultation with the Member 
States and communicates them to the EFTA Council, which forwards them to the 
EFTA countries. 
84. The Agreement makes no provision for the extension of the standstill period. The one 
33 
possibility for taking the procedure beyond comments is laid down in Article 13 of the 
Agreement which provides for regular consultations on the comments made by any 
Contracting Party or additional ad hoc meetings to deal with specific cases. 
Urgent Adoption Procedure 
85. The Agreement between EFTA and the EEC on the Exchange of Information in the 
field of technical regulations and the EEA Agreement also contains a clause which 
provides for the immediate adoption of a draft for urgent reasons such as the 
protection of public health or safety or the health of animals and plants. One 
difference from the information procedure in Directive 83/189/EEC is that EFTA 
Member States which wish to adopt a draft for an urgent reason can do so without 
prior approval by the EFTA Council, the Commission or the EFTA Surveillance 
Authority. They simply announce that they intend to adopt the text without the three-
month delay and add an explanation for the reasons for the urgency. 
86. The Commission forwards to the EFTA Secretariat the requests for urgent adoption 
made by the Member States under the procedure introduced by Directive 83/189/EEC, 
together with its decision to accept or reject the request. 
In 1992, the EFTA countries adopted four technical regulations for urgent reasons, 
immediately after notification. One of them related to Food Products, one to 
Mechanical Engineering, one to the Environment and Packaging and one to other 
products. In 1993, the EFTA countries adopted two technical regulations for urgent 
reasons, immediately after notification. Both of them related to food products. In 
1994, the EFTA countries adopted four technical regulations for urgent reasons, two 
related to Mechanical Engineering, one to Transport and one to Products for 
Household and Leisure use. 
Application of the Procedure 
87. The statistics in Table XI of the Annex show that the Commission received 131 draft 
technical regulations from the EFTA countries in 1992, 110 in 1993 and 103 in 1994. 
As can be seen in Chart 5, most of the notified draft regulations in 1992 came from 
Sweden, who accounted for over a third of the notifications, whilst Austria and 
Finland each notified almost a fourth of the total number of notifications. In 1993, the 
number of notifications from the EFTA States was more evenly distributed, Norway 
and Switzerland each notifying a fourth and the remaining EFTA States each 
notifying around 16% of the total number of notifications, except for Iceland who 
notified in the three years only one draft technical regulation. In 1994, almost three 
quarters of all notifications came from Sweden and Switzerland. 
34 
Chart 5 Number of Notifications per EFTA State 1992-1994 
Chart 6 A breakdown by sector (in Chart 6 and Table XII of the Annex) shows that the largest 
sector in all three years has been the Telecommunications sector. In 1992, 29% of all 
notifications received related to the Telecommunications sector. In 1993, this figure 
was 42% and in 1994 it was 33%. Sweden signed responsible for 66% of all 
notifications in the Telecommunications Sector in 1992. In 1993, it was Norway and 
Switzerland, who together notified more than two thirds of all notifications received 
in that sector. In 1994 Sweden notified 68% and Switzerland 26% of all notifications 
received in that sector. The second and third largest sectors in 1992 were the 
Mechanical Engineering and Environment Packaging sectors, each with 14% of all 
notifications. In 1993, the second and third largest sectors were Chemical Products 
with 15% of all notifications and Mechanical Engineering with 10% of all 
notifications. In 1994, the second and third largest sectors were Agriculture and Food 
Products with 16% and Mechanical Engineering with 13%. 
EFTA Notifications per Sector 1992-1994 
Sectors 
35 
Comments 
A. Comments from the Community on EFTA Notifications 
89. In the years 1992-1994, the Community commented on 227 (66%) of the EFTA 
notifications, which represented a slight increase compared with the figures for 1990 
and 1991, when the Community commented upon 55% of all EFTA notifications. 
These comments were subject to a consultation procedure with the EEC Member 
States and consequently they often included comments from them. 
Notifications received from Austria, Sweden and Finland in 1994 and whose deadline 
expired after 1st January 1995, after these States had joined the European Union, were 
treated as notifications from Member States. This meant that these notifications in 
principle could also be the subject of a detailed opinion from either the Commission 
or other Member States. The Commission delivered fifteen detailed opinions at the 
beginning of 1995 against notifications from the "new" Member States. Notifications 
from the "new" Member States also received one detailed opinion and six comments 
from the "old" Member States. 
90. The comments sent by the Community related in particular to problems of 
compatibility with existing Community law (74% of notifications in 1992 and 76% in 
1993.) Community law related to environmental problems in 30% of cases in 1992 
and 23% of cases in 1993, and to infringements of Directives 73/23/EEC ("Low 
Voltage") and 89/336/EEC ("Electromagnetic Compatibility") in 32% of cases in 
1992 and in 56% of cases in 1993. In 1994, all the reactions by the Commission 
related to problems of incompatibility with Community law. 48% of reactions related 
to non-compliance with the articles of the EEC Agreement on the free movement of 
goods in accordance with Articles 30 et seq of the EC Treaty. 41% related to 
infringements of the provisions of Directive 89/336/EEC on electromagnetic 
compatibility. 
91. Similarly, the Community issued comments with regard to drafts notified by the 
EFTA Member States which were signatories of the European Economic Area 
Agreement, drawing the attention of these States to the necessity of providing in their 
technical regulations the clauses of mutual recognition required for compliance with 
Articles 11 to 13 of the Agreement. The development towards a system of mutual 
recognition has proved to be quite slow. As it stands, the EFTA States concerned 
have had to introduce into their regulations a principle which does not necessarily 
form part of their traditional judicial experience. 
92. • The Community also made reference in comments upon projects in progress upon a 
Community level in the European standards institutes and upon the international 
agreements upon subjects such as the environment (Montreal Protocol) and safety at 
sea (OMI, SOLAS). 
B. Comments from the EFTA on EEC notifications 
93. Nine notifications by the Community in 1992, ten in 1993 and six in 1994 gave rise to 
comments from EFTA. The new Member States made five comments at the 
beginning of 1995. 
The EFTA comments consist for the most part of references to the standardization 
work of the European organizations. These comments also contain references to 
current legislation in certain EFTA countries and to the possible barriers which the 
drafts in question could create with regard to products manufactured in accordance 
with this legislation. 
Conclusions and Prospects 
94. The assessment of the years 1992, 1993 and 1994 is characterized by a slight fall in 
the total number of notifications recorded in comparison with 1991 and confirms the 
significance of the telecommunications sector. 
The number of comments made by the Community with regard to drafts from the 
EFTA Member States remained unchanged. The Community is still motivated 
towards monitoring the EFTA countries' compliance with the provisions of 
Community law. 
37 
Table I - Distribution of the number of new standardization projects 
undertaken each year between 1987 and 1994 
Members of the CEN/CENELEC belonging to the EU. 
Year 
Level 
a. 
National 
projects 
a.l. 
Connected 
with European 
or 
International 
projects 
i a.2. Specific 
(*) 
a.3.Total(a.l. 
+ a.2) 
b. European 
projects 
c. 
International 
projects 
djTotal(a + b 
+ c) 1987 
No. % 
187 5.2 
2537 70.6 
2724 75.8 
289 8.0 
579 16.1 
3592 100 1988 
No. % 
244 6.9 
1876 53.4 
2120 60.3 
556 15.8 
1838 23.8 
3514 100 1989 
No. % 
225 4.2 
2096 39.2 
2321 43.4 
1816 33.9 
1215 22.7 
5352 100 1990 
No. % 
154 2.3 
1785 26.9 
1939 29.2 
2457 37.0 
2243 33.8 
6639 100 1991 
No. % 
241 2.4 
1952 19.1 
2193 21.4 
,5887 57.6 
2130 20.9 
10210 100 1992 
No. % 
542 5.2 
1744 16.5 
2286 21.4 
5014 47.5 
3252 30.8 
10552 100 1993 
No. % 
109 1.7 
2019 31.3 
2128 33.0 
2466 38.2 
1860 28.8 
6454 100 1994 
No % 
119 23.5 
1511 29.8 
1630 32.2 
1985 39.8 
1454 28.6 
5069 100 
Source : notifications to the CEN/CENELEC 
(*) It should be noted that these figures may be overestimated as a result of the fact that some members of the CEN/CENELEC do not automatically 
communicate the existence of a relationship with European or International projects. 
38 
Table Ha - Distribution of the number of new standardization projects 
undertaken in 1992 
Members of the CEN/CENELEC belonging to the EU. 
Field 
Level 
a. National 
projects 
a. 1. Connected 
with European or 
International 
projects 
a.2. Specific7 
a.3. Total (a.l. + 
a.2) 
b. European 
projects 
c. International 
projects 
d. Total (a + b + c) Non-Electrical 
No. % 
(1) 
535 7.6 
1673 24.0 
2208 31.6 
4042 57.9 
7348 10.5 
6984 100 Electrical 
No. % 
(2) 
7 0.2 
71 2.0 
78 2.2 
972 27.2 
2518 70.6 
3568 100 Total 
No. % 
(3) = (l) + (2) 
542 5.2 
1744 16.5 
2286 21.7 
5014 47.5 
3252 30.8 
10552 100 Non-Electrical 
Section 
(l) x 100 
(3) 
% 
98.7 
95.9 
96.6 
80.6 
22.6 
66.2 
Source : Notifications to the CEN/CENELEC 
It is to be noted that these figures may be overestimated as a result of the fact that some members of the CEN/CENELEC do not automatically communicate the existence < 
a relationship between their projects and European or International projects. 
This figure has been supplied by the ISO departments. 
39 
Table lib - Distribution of the number of new standardization projects 
undertaken in 1993 
Members of the CEN/CENELEC belonging to the EU. 
Field 
Level 
a. National 
projects 
a. 1. Connected 
with European or 
International 
projects 
a.2. Specific9 
a.3. Total (a.l. + 
a.2) 
b. 
European projects 
c. International 
projects 
d. Total (a + b + c) Non-Electrical 
No. % 
(1) 
105 2.0 
1989 37.7 
2094 39.7 
2094 39.7 
108310 20.5 
5271 100.0 Electrical 
No. % 
(2) 
4 0.3 
30 2.6 
34 2.9 
3723 1.4 
7776 5.7 
1183 100.0 Total 
No. % 
(3) = (1) + (2) 
109 1.7 
2019 31.3 
2128 33.0 
2466 38.2 
1860 28.8 
6454 100.0 Non-Electrical 
Section 
m x ioo 
(3) 
% 
96.3 
98.5 
98.4 
84.9 
58.2 
81.7 
Source : Notifications to CEN/CENELEC 
10 It is to be noted that these figures may be overestimated as a result of the fact that some members of the CEN/CENELEC do not automatically communicate the existence of 
a relationship between their projects and European or International projects. 
This figure has been supplied by the ISO departments. 
40 
Table Ile - Distribution of the number of new standardization projects 
undertaken in 1994 
Members of the CEN/CENELEC belonging to the EU. 
Field 
Level 
a. National 
projects 
a. 1. Connected 
with European or 
International 
projects 
a.2. Specific11 
a.3. Total (a.l. + 
a.2) 
b. 
European projects 
c. International 
projects 
d. Total (a + b + c) Non-Electrical 
No. % 
(1) 
113 2.8 
1510 37.2 
1623 40.0 
1500 36.9 
94112 23.1 
4064 100 Electrical 
No. % 
(2) 
6 0.6 
1 0 
7 0.6 
, 485 48.2 
513 51.2 
1005 100 Total 
No. % 
(3) = (l) + (2) 
119 23.5 
1511 29.8 
1630 32.2 
1985 39.2 
1454 28.6 
5069 100 Non-Electrical 
Section 
(imoo 
(3) 
% 
95.0 
99.9 
99.6 
75.6 
64.7 
80.2 
Source : Notifications to the CEN/CENELEC 
11 
12 It is to be noted that these figures may be overestimated as a result of the fact that some members of the CEN/CENELEC do not automatically communicate the existence of 
a relationship between their projects and European or International projects. 
This figure has been supplied by the ISO departments. 
41 
Table Ilia - Distribution per country of the number of n 
notified at national level in 1992 
Field 
Country 
a. GE 
b. FR 
c. UK 
d. IT 
e. SP 
f. Other EC countries 
g. Total EC 
h. EFTA countries 
i. General total 
(g + h) Non-Electrical 
No. % 
322 . 13.9 
690 29.9 
162 7.0 
288 12.5 
711 30.7 
35 1.5 
2208 95.6 
103 4.4 
2311 100 Electrical 
No. % 
19 21.1 
7 7.8 
16 . 17.8 
36 40.0 
78 86.7 
12 13.3 
90 100 Total 
No. % 
341 14.2 
697 29.0 
178 7.4 
288 12.0 
747 31.1 
35 1.5 
2286 95.2 
115 4.8 
2401 100 
Sources : Notifications to the CEN/CENELEC 
Comments 
Comparisons between the various countries should be made with some caution, it being given that the exact stage of preparation at which a new dr 
notified by the INFOPRO system is not harmonized. 
These figures reflect the number of notifications managed by the Central Unit. Any questions relating to the exact number of new projects underl 
upon a national level should be sent to the relevant National Standards Institute. 
42 
Table Illb - Distribution per country of the number of new standardization projects 
notified at national level in 1993 
Field 
Country 
a. GE 
b. FR 
c. UK 
d. IT 
e. SP 
f. Other EC countries 
g. Total EC 
h. EFTA countries 
i. General total 
(g + h) Non-Electrical 
No. % 
480 20.0 
504 21.0 
283 11.8 
355 14.8 
214 8.9 
258 10.7 
2094 87.2 
307 12.8 
2401 100 Electrical 
No. % 
16 39.0 
6 14.6 
5 12.2 
5 12.2 
2 4.9 
34 83.0 
7 17.0 
41 100 Total 
No. % 
496 20.3 
510 20.9 
288 11.8 
360 14.7 . 
214 8.8 
260 10.6, 
2128 87.1 
314 12.9 
2442 100 
Sources : Notifications to the CEN/CENELEC 
Comments 
1. Comparisons between the various countries should be made with some caution, it being given that the exact stage of preparation at which a new d 
notified by the INFOPRO system is not harmonized. 
2. These figures reflect the number of notifications managed by the Central Unit. Any questions relating to the exact number of new projects undei 
upon a national level should be sent to the relevant National Standards Institute. 
43 
Table IIIc - Distribution per country of the number of new standardization projects 
notified at national level in 1994 
Field 
Country 
a. GE 
b. FR 
c. UK 
d. IT 
e. SP 
f. Other EC countries 
g. Total EC 
h. EFTA countries 
i. General total 
(g + h) Non-Electrical 
No. % 
423 23.0 
353 27.5 
230 12.5 
331 18.0 
163 8.9 
123 6.7 
1623 88.4 
213 11.6 
1836 100 Electrical 
No. % 
6 75.0 
0 
0 
1 12.5 
0 
0 
7 87.5 
1 12.5 
8 100 Total 
No. % 
429 23.3 
353 19.1 
230 12.5 
332 18.0 
163 8.8 
123 6.3 
1630 88.4 
214 11.6 
1844 100 
Sources : Notifications to the CEN/CENELEC 
Comments 
2. Comparisons between the various countries should be made with some caution, it .being given that the exact stage of preparation at which a new draft is 
notified by the INFOPRO system is not harmonized. 
These figures reflect the number of notifications managed by the Central Unit. Any questions relating to the exact number of new projects undertaken 
upon a national level should be sent to the relevant National Standards Institute. 
44 
Table IVa - The ten principal sub-sectors of new national standardization projects in 1992 
SUB-SECTORS 
Code Name Number of new projects 
(EU + EFTA) 
T02 
B02 
102 
N09 
N03 
N01 
109 
B03 
C01 
M05 Aeronautics 
Construction 
Fixing components 
Plastics 
Oil products 
Paper and card 
Small mechanical tools 
Concrete 
Food products 
Welding 134 
99 
92 
90 
78 
70 
56 
51 
43 
42 
Total 755 
Source : Notifications to the CEN/CENELEC 
Comments 
In 1992, the two principal sub-sectors of the electro-technics sector were : 
- coiling wire (Code W23) : 11 new projects 
- electric cables (Code W08) : 8 new projects 
In the absence of more detailed figures, the totals indicated relate to the EU plus the EFTA countries. 
45 
Table IVb - The ten principal sub-sectors of new national standardization projects in 1993 
SUB-SECTORS Number of new projects 
(EU + EFTA) 
Code Name 
C01 
T20 
S09 
H28 
B99 
B02 
B03 
T02 
109 
N05 Food products 
Rail construction (train and tram) 
Water quality and conveyance 
Hunting 
Building - miscellaneous aspects 
Construction 
Concrete 
Aeronautics 
Small mechanical tools 
Textiles 90 
82 
77 
61 
59 
53 
51 
49 
48 
46 
Total 616 
Source : Notifications to the CEN/CENELEC 
Comments : 
In 1993, the two principal sub-sectors of the electro-technics sector were : 
- electric traction equipment (Code 03) : 6 new projects 
- electrical installations in buildings (Code WO8) : 4 new projects 
In the absence of more detailed figures, the totals given relate to the EU plus the EFTA countries. 
46 
Table IVc - The ten principal sub-sectors of new national standardization projects in 1994 
SUB-SECTORS Number of new projects 
(EU + EFTA) 
Code Name 
C01 
109 
S09 
B99 
102 
C20 
B02 
T02 
N03 
T03 Food products 
Small mechanical tools 
Water quality and conveyance 
Building - miscellaneous aspects 
Fixing components 
Explosives and fireworks 
Construction 
Aeronautics 
Oil products 
Road vehicles 85 
80 
79 
51 
49 
47 
44 
44 
40 
40 
Total 559 
Source : Notifications to the CEN/CENELEC 
Comment : 
In the absence of more detailed figures, the totals given relate to the EU plus the EFTA countries. 
47 
Table V - Application of Article 3 (Request for association with national standardization projects and request for the development of a European* 
standard. 
Year Information 
request Comments 
request Participation Request for 
request European Standard 
1985 
1986 
1987 
1988 
1989 
1990 
1991 
1992 
1993 
1994 5 
8 
5 
0 
0 
20 
0 
0 
0 
5 14 
16 
74 
67 
52 
78 
83 
52 
34 
74 5 
10 
5 
15 
16 
7 
16 
5 
7 
7 
Source : CEN/CENELEC 
Comments : 
1. In the absence of detailed figures, the totals given are for the EU plus the EFTA ..countries. 
2. Some requests for information or for participation and comments have not been notified to the CEN Central Secretariat. 
3. Following a reminder by the CEN/CENELEC, some comments dating from the years 1985/1986 were entered in 1987. 
4. Beginning from 1989, the figures relate for the most part to the CEN, as a result of the introduction of the Vilamoura system in the CENELEC. 
48 
Table IVa - Standardization work entrusted to European standardization bodies in 
1992 
1. Mandates in connection with the New Approach Directives 
Directive 89/106/EEC construction products: provisional mandate to the 
standardization bodies CEN and CENELEC. 
Directive 89/336/EEC mandate to CENELEC relating to electromagnetic 
compatibility. 
Directive concerning protective equipment and systems intended for use in 
explosive atmospheres: planning mandate and standardization mandate to 
CEN and CENELEC. 
2. Mandates in connection with the Public Contracts Directives 
Mandate to CEN concerning certification of conformance with Community 
regulations on public contracts. 
Mandate to CEN and CENELEC in the field of electricity production 
concerning the implementation of European standards used as buyers' guides 
in public contracts and concerning the drawing up of an auxiliary standards 
programme. 
Mandate to CEN and CENELEC concerning the drawing up of a 
standardization programme in the field of machinery and equipment for the 
petroleum industry (exploration, production, refining and transport by 
pipeline) and natural gas (exploration, production). 
3. Mandates in connection with Community policy in the field of IT and 
telecommunications 
Test specifications for DECT (Digital European Cordless Telephone). 
Test specifications for ISUP (ISDN User Part) protocols. 
Test specifications for ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) 
videophone. 
Test specifications for very small aperture aerials (VAST). 
Test specifications for the ISDN PCI (Programme Communication Interface). 
High-level ONP (Open Network Provision) leased lines. 
Automatic message accounting on the fixed public telephone network. 
Coder-decoder for TETRA (Trans-European Trunked Radio). 
Library-related and documentary applications. 
Definition of a database taxonomy. 
Functional standards in the field of information systems security. 
Harmonization of sockets and plugs on the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone 
Network). 
ONP (Open Network Provision) study relating to the interconnection of 
PSDNs (Packet-Switched Data Networks). ' 
Establishment of a work programme relating to satellites with a low earth 
orbit. 
49 
Identification of the calling line on the fixed public telephone network. 
Specifications in the field of equipment for satellite ground stations. 
The implications of ageing of the population for the design of telephone 
terminals. 
Establishment of a work programme concerning readaptation technology. 
4. Mandates in connection with other Community policies 
Standardization mandate to CEN concerning the analysis and liberation of 
nickel. 
Mandate to CEN concerning biotechnology. 
Mandate to CEN concerning reference methods for doses of hazardous 
substances in water. 
Mandate to CEN concerning a standard for a reference method allowing the 
calibration of automatic measuring equipment for gaseous total organic carbon 
and the principal performance characteristics for automatic measuring 
equipment. 
Mandate to CEN concerning a European standard for a reference method 
allowing the calibration of automatic measuring equipment for low-
concentration total dust and the principal performance characteristics for 
automatic measuring equipment. 
Mandate to CEN concerning a test procedure allowing the demonstration in 
real conditions of the equivalence of sampling methods for fine particles (up to 
10 pm) in suspension in ambient air in accordance with Community 
directives. 
50 
Table VIb - Standardization work entrusted to European standardization bodies in 
1993 
1. Mandates in connection with the New Approach Directives 
Directive 89/392/EEC - machine safety: mandate addressed to CEN and 
CENELEC concerning the drawing up of a standardization programme in 
connection with standards published in the context of the "Low Voltage" 
Directive with regard to the machinery sector. 
Standardization mandate to CEN/CENELEC concerning lifts. 
| - Draft directive concerning objects made from precious metals: planning 
! mandate to CEN/CENELEC. 
j - Directive 93/42/EEC concerning medical equipment: standardization mandate 
to CEN/CENELEC. 
Directive 89/686/EEC concerning individual protective equipment: 
standardization mandate to CEN/CENELEC. 
2. Mandates in connection with the Public Contracts Directives 
Standardization mandate addressed to CEN/CENELEC in the field of 
equipment and installations for the transmission and distribution of gas. 
Planning and standardization mandate to CEN/CENELEC/ETSI in the field of 
railway equipment. 
Research mandate to CEN/CENELEC/ETSI cone rning the qualification of 
public contracts companies. 
Mandate addressed to CEN/CENELEC/ETSI ior the drawing up of a 
programme of standards in the field of acquisition and computer-assisted 
logistic support (CALS). 
3. Mandates in connection with Community policy in the field of IT and 
telecommunications 
Mandate to CEN covering the guarantee of quality in the development of test 
specifications for open systems. 
Planning mandate for character technology. 
Supplementary standardization mandate concerning electromagnetic 
compatibility. 
Standardization mandate in the field of geographical information. 
Mandate relating to safety requirements for mobile communication equipment: 
thermal aspects of electromagnetic radiation. 
Planning mandate relating to safety requirements concerning the athermanous 
effects of radiation during use of mobile communications equipment. 
IT of transport and road traffic. 
Specification of manufacturing messages. 
Open Document Architecture: image and document processing applications. 
Medical IT. 
' - Planning mandate addressed to CEN/CENELEC/ETSI in the field of the 
exchange of computerized data. 
51 
4. Mandates in connection with other Community policies 
Standardization mandate in the field of iron and steel-making. 
Mandate in the field of air traffic management systems. 
52 
Table VIc - Standardization work entrusted to European standardization bodies in 
1994 
1. Mandates in connection with the New Approach Directives 
Directive 93/15/EC relating to explosives for civilian use: standardization 
mandate to CEN. 
Directive 92/42/EC relating to requirements placed on boiler efficiency: 
mandate to CEN. 
Directive 94/25/EC relating to pleasure craft: mandate to CEN. 
Directive 89/392/EEC - 91/368/EEC - 93/44/EC in the field of machinery: 
standardization mandate to CEN and CENELEC. 
Directive 73/23/EEC 93/68/EEC - 89/392/EEC - 91/398/EEC - 93/44/EC 
concerning Low Voltage and Machinery: one mandate entrusted to CEN and 
CENELEC concerning the revision of CEN/CENELEC standards in order to 
guarantee their complete coherence with regard to the Low Voltage and 
Machinery Directives. 
Draft directive in the field of cable installations for the transport of people: 
planning and standardization mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI. 
Draft directive concerning pressurized equipment: mandate to CEN and 
CENELEC. 
Draft directive concerning precious metals: standardization mandate to CEN. 
2. Mandates in connection with Community policy in the field of IT and 
telecommunications 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI relating to computer systems 
engineering. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning aircraft-ground telephone 
systems equipment. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning low earth orbit (LEO) 
satellite stations. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning Trans-European Trunked 
Radio (TETRA). 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning requirements for 
connection to terminal equipment intended for the Euro-ISDN. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning terminals connected to the 
DCS 1800 networks. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning the DECT generic access 
profile. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning the general access of non-
voice terminals to the analogue telephone network. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning new types of specialized 
links. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning "Local Loop" ONP access. 
' - Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning "multiple B channels" on 
ISDN. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning ONP "Intelligent 
Networks IN". 
53 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning specification of the 
harmonized characteristics of a set of telephone tones generated by the public 
telephone networks. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning the test specifications for 
DECT applications. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning social alarm systems. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning the interface for the 
readaptation environment. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning the connections for 
switching interfaces. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning the audio description of 
television broadcasts for the partially sighted and the elderly. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning "Digital Audio 
Broadcasting". 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning "Digital Video 
Broadcasting". 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning access to the SDH system. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning the EWOS (European 
Workshop for Open Systems) 1995 work programme. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning the interface for the 
readaptation environment. 
Mandate to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI concerning the connections for 
switching interfaces. 
3. Mandates in connection with other Community policies 
Mandate relating to methods of analysis in the field of materials and objects 
intended to come into contact with foodstuffs. 
Research mandate to CEN concerning a proposition aimed at including 
organo-mineral fertilizers in the annexes to directive 76/116/EEC. 
Standardization mandate entrusted to CEN concerning the revision of standard 
EN 272 relating to tactile hazard warning indicators. 
Research and standardization mandate entrusted to CEN concerning the 
perfection of methods of analysis for trace-element fertilizers. 
Standardization mandate to CEN and CENELEC concerning measuring 
methods for domestic washing machines. 
Standardization mandate to CEN and CENELEC concerning measuring 
methods for domestic tumble-dryers. 
Standardization mandate to CEN and CENELEC concerning measuring 
methods for domestic dishwashers. 
Standardization mandate to CEN and CENELEC for the drawing up of a 
measuring standards programme relating to certain types of domestic 
appliance. 
Mandate addressed to CEN concerning a standard in the field of 
environmental management systems. 
Mandate addressed to CEN and CENELEC for the drawing up of measuring 
standards relating to domestic refrigerators and freezers. 
Directive 94/62/EC planning mandate to CEN and CENELEC in the field of 
54 
packaging and packaging waste. 
Standardization mandate to CEN and CENELEC in the field of thermal solar 
systems and components. 
Mandate to CEN and CENELEC in the field of advanced ceramics. 
Planning mandate to CEN and CENELEC in the field of equipment and 
installations for the transport and distribution of electricity. 
55 
Tabel VII 
Notifications per Member State 1992-1994 
Member States 
Belgium 
Danmark 
Germany 
Spain 
France 
Greece 
Ireland 
Italy 
Luxemburg 
Netherlands 
Portugal 
United Kingdom 
Total EEC 1992 
11 
28 
65 
12 
73 
11 
2 
40 
3 
38 
12 
67 
362 1993 
18 
18 
80 
15 
85 
12 
3 
36 
1 
24 
7 
106 
385 1994 
16 
34 
98 
25 
60 
12 
1 
34 
0 
40 
7 
62 
389 
Member States 
Belgium 
Danmark 
Germany 
Spain 
France 
Greece 
Ireland 
Italy 
Luxemburg 
Netherlands 
Portugal 
United Kingdom % 1992 
3 
7,7 
18 
3,3 
20 
3 
0,6 
11 
0,8 
10,5 
3,3 
18,5 % 1993 
4,7 
4,7 
20,8 
3,9 
16,9 
3,1 
0,8 
9,4 
0,3 
6,2 
1,8 
27,5 % 1994 
4,1 
8,7 
25,2 
6,4 
15,4 
3,1 
0,3 
8,7 
0 
10,3 
1,8 
15,9 
56 
Notifications of Member States per Sector 1992 Table VIII 
Sector 1992 
Building and Construction 
Agriculture and Food Products 
Chemical Products 
Pharmaceutical Products 
Products for Household and Leisure Use 
Mechanical Engineering 
Energy, Minerals and Wood 
Environment, Packaging 
Health, Medical Equipment 
Transport 
Telecom 
Other Products 
Total by Country B 
1 
5 
^s 
0 
0 
2 
0 
0 
0 
1 
1 
1 
11 DK 
4 
1 
1 
1 
1 
5 
0 
0 
0 
5 
9 
1 
28 D 
26 
1 
3 
2 
4 
3 
1 
2 
1 
8 
14 
0 
65 E 
3 
3 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
5 
0 
12 F 
4 
15 
3 
5 
2 
3 
2 
0 
2 
0 
37 
0 
73 GR 
1 
4 
2 
2 
0 
1 
0 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
11 IRL 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
1 
0 
0 
2 I 
4 
20 
2 
1 
0 
3 
0 
0 
1 
3 
5 
1 
40 L 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
2 
0 
0 
0 
0 
3 NL 
0 
21 
2 
1 
1 
1 
0 
4 
0 
1 
7 
0 
38 P 
2 
1 
0 
0 
0 
3 
0 
0 
1 
2 
3 
0 
12 UK 
11 
5 
2 
2 
2 
7 
0 
1 
2 
26 
8 
1 
67 Total EEC 
56 
77 
15 
14 
10 
29 
3 
9 
9 
47 
89 
4 
362 
57 
Notifications of Member States per Sector 1993 Table IX 
Sector 1993 
Building and Construction 
Agriculture and Food Products 
Chemical Products 
Pharmaceutical Products 
Products for Household and Leisure Use 
Mechanical Engineering 
Energy, Minerals and Wood 
Environment, Packaging 
Health, Medical Equipment 
Transport 
Telecom 
Other Products 
Total by Country B 
0 
3 
0 
0 
0 
2 
0 
1 
0 
2 
10 
0 
18 DK 
0 
0 
2 
0 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
7 
8 
0 
18 D 
19 
7 
2 
2 
0 
11 
1 
1 
2 
9 
24 
2 
80 E 
1 
7 
2 
0 
0 
• 3 
0 
0 
0 
0 
2 
0 
15 F 
0 
2 
8 
5 
0 
12 
4 
0 
3 
13 
18 
0 
65 GR 
4 
0 
1 
3 
0 
0 
0 
1 
1 
2 
0 
0 
12 IR 
L 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
2 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
3 I 
2 
20 
4 
1 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
6 
2 
0 
36 L 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 NL 
0 
11 
1 
0 
0 
3 
0 
4 
1 
0 
4 
0 
24 P 
1 
3 
0 
0 
0 
2 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 
7 UK 
8 
2 
2 
9 
1 
2 
1 
0 
2 
14 
63 
2 
106 Total EEC 
35 
56 
22 
20 
2 
39 
6 
7 
9 
53 
132 
4 
385 
1 
58 
Notifications of Member States per Sector 1994 Table X 
Sector 1994 
Building and Construction 
Agriculture and Food Products 
Chemical Products 
Pharmaceutical Products 
Products for Household and Leisure Use 
Mechanical Engineering 
Energy, Minerals and Wood 
Environment, Packaging 
Health, Medical Equipment 
Transport 
Telecom 
Other Products 
Total by Country B 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
1 
13 
0 
16 DK 
1 
2 
2 
0 
3 
7 
2 
0 
0 
5 
12 
0 
34 D 
28 
6 
2 
1 
0 
29 
i 
0 
2 
2 
27 
0 
98 E 
2 
4 
1 
1 
0 
4 
0 
0 
0 
6 
4 
3 
25 F 
4 
11 
5 
4 
1 
11 
0 
0 
1 
8 
15 
0 
60 GR 
1 
2 
2 
1 
0 
n 
0 
0 
0 
'2 
1 
1 
12 IRL 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 
0 
1 I 
3 
17 
2 
0 
0 
5 
0 
1 
0 
3 
2 
1 
34 L 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 NL 
3 
14 
2 
0 
1 
6 
0 
1 
0 
1 
12 
0 
40 P 
0 
3 
0 
0 
0 
2 
1 
0 
0 
0 
1 
0 
7 UK 
10 
6 
1 
6 
2 
8 
1 
0 
0 
5 
23 
0 
62 Total EEC 
52 
65 
17 
14 
7 
74 
5 
2 
4 
34 
110 
5 
389 
59 
Notifications of EFTA States Table XI 
EFTA States 
Austria 
Finland 
Iceland 
Norway 
Sweden 
Switzerland 
Total EFTA 1992 
29 
28 
1 
16 
47 
10 
131 1993 
17 
18 
0 
29 
18 
28 
110 1994 
18 
2 
0 
7 
33 
43 
103 
Notifications of EFTA States per sector 1992-1994 Table XII 
Sector 
Building and Construction 
Agriculture and Food Products 
Chemical Products 
Pharmaceutical Products 
Products for Household and Leisure Use 
Mechanical Engineering 
Energy, Minerals and Wood 
Environment, Packaging 
Health, Medical Equipment 
Transport 
Telecom 
Other Products 
Total 1992 
9 
9 
11 
0 
3 
18 
1 
18 
3 
15 
38 
6 
131 1993 
2 
4 
16 
3 
2 
11 
10 
6 
2 
8 
46 
0 
110 1994 
8 
16 
10 
2 
4 
13 
1 
4 
0 
9 
34 
2 
103 
60 
ISSN 0254-1475 
COM(96) 286 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 02 08 10 
Catalogue number : CB-CO-96-292-EN-C 
ISBN 92-78-05589-1 
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities 
L-2985 Luxembourg 
& -i