30. 12. 89 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 329/1 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Directive on the approximation of the laws of the 
Member States concerning telecommunications terminal equipment, including the mutual 
recognition of their conformity(!) 
(89/C 329/01) 
On 8 August 1989, the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, 
under Article 100A of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the 
abovementioned proposal. 
The Section for Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services, which was responsible for preparing 
the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 4 October 1989. The Rapporteur 
was Mr Nierhaus. 
At its 270th plenary session (meeting of 18 October 1989) the Economic and Social Committee 
adopted the following Opinion by a unanimous vote. 
The Economic and Social Committee welcomes the 
Commission proposal subject to the following com­
ments : 
1. General comments 
1.1. The standardization of technical specifications 
for the components used in telecommunications net­
works in the EC is of particular importance for a variety 
of reasons: 
— From a technical point of view, it will make it 
possible to utilize to the full the opportunities pro­
vided by international telecommunications and will 
safeguard the further development of systems. 
— From an economic point of view, it will make it 
possible to capitalize on the advantages of a Single 
European Market—large-scale production and 
increased competition—which will in turn consoli­
date the EC position on the world market. 
— From the legal and administrative points of view, 
procedures will be simplified as it will no longer be 
necessary to carry out further testing and conform­
ity procedures in each EC Member State, thereby 
saving both time and money. 1.2. In 1985 therefore the Committee strongly 
endorsed the proposal for a Council Directive setting 
out the initial stage of the establishment of mutual 
recognition of type approval for telecommunications 
terminal equipment (2). The Committee drew attention 
at the same time to the close interrelationship between 
the recognition of type approval and progress in stan­
dardization policy; the Committee therefore also wel­
comed the proposal for a Directive—as submitted by 
the Commission at the same time—on standardization 
in the field of information technology. 
1.3. The current draft Directive on the approxi­
mation of Member States' laws on telecommunications 
terminal equipment, including the mutual recognition 
of their conformity, represents a continuation of EC 
policy in this field with the aim of replacing the still 
widely applicable national procedures for authorizing 
terminal equipment with a uniform EC procedure. 
1.4. The Committee further strongly endorses the 
draft Directive under consideration, because the Com­
mission views with concern the discrepancy between 
the rapid pace of technical developments in the field of 
(') OJ No C 211, 17. 8. 1989, p. 12. (2) OJ No C 303, 25. 11. 1985, p. 2. 
No C 329/2 Official Journal of the European Communities 30. 12. 89 
information technology and telecommunications on the 
one hand and the time-consuming standardization and 
administrative work required to incorporate these new 
developments into uniform standards for the whole of 
the EC on the other. 
2. Specific comments 
2.1. The Committee expects that the bodies respon­
sible for standardization in the EC, in particular the 
European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the 
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardiz­
ation (Cenelec) and the European Telecommunications 
Standards Institute (ETSI), will create the necessary 
conditions to enable mutual recognition of type 
approval in respect of the quantitatively most important 
terminal equipment to be effected on the basis of uni­
form specifications by 1993. 
2.2. The mutual recognition of type approval for 
telecommunications terminal equipment will only 
become fully effective from the economic point of view 
when the national telecommunication bodies invite ten­
ders from companies throughout the EC as a matter of 
principle and award contracts to the company which 
submits the most favourable tender on grounds of cost, 
quality and delivery time. The Committee therefore 
appeals to the governments, which are responsible for 
state telecommunications bodies, to vigorously promote 
the policy of market liberalization. In this connection 
it would refer to its Opinion of 31 March 1989(1) on 
the proposal for a Council Directive on the procurement 
procedures of entities operating in the telecommuni­
cations sector. 
2.2.1. to ensure optimum effectiveness of the com­
mission's measures aimed at mutual recognition of the 
conformity of telecommunications terminal equipment, 
the Committee recommends that the terminology used 
in all Directives in this sector be standardized. 
2.2.2. However, the Committee would also urge that 
interested firms' access to the telecommunications ter­
minal equipment market must not be impeded by 
excessive bureaucratic obstacles resulting from require­
ments imposed by the Commission. 
2.2.3. In this connection there is also a danger that 
the rigid adherence to national standards could impede 
the free circulation of telecommunications terminal 
equipment in the Community and operate as a form of 
'concealed protectionism'. 
2.3. The fact that computers of all sizes, from PC to 
mainframes, are linked to each other both via the public 
telecommunications network and via private networks 
means that the definition given in Article 1 covers not 
only standard telecommunications terminal equipment 
such as telephones, fax machines and teleprinters, but virtually all data processing equipment which can be 
connected to the telecommunications network. It is 
therefore particularly important, if the draft Directive 
is to be implemented effectively, that the correct order 
of priorities be set for the harmonization of standards 
and specifications. In order to ensure optimum 
efficiency, highest priority in the harmonization of stan­
dards should be given to the most widely used terminal 
equipment e.g. telephones, telefax and videotex. Any 
national divergences from EC standards, insofar as 
unavoidable for reasons connected with the telecom­
munications network, should be reduced to an absolute 
minimum. 
2.4. The Committee wonders whether the process of 
achieving mutual recognition of type approval should 
also cover, in addition to terminal equipment, the 
software required to link that equipment to the public 
telecommunications network, particularly in view of 
the fact that the requirements set out in Article 3 are 
to a large extent software-dependent. 
2.5. The Committee wishes to draw particular atten­
tion to the requirements of users in the context of the 
harmonization of standards. The necessary adjustments 
to specifications should be carried out in such a way as 
largely to prevent the need for expensive re-equipment 
programmes. This can be achieved by providing for 
transitional periods and by manufacturers providing 
exchange facilities and multi-use facilities. It could also 
be promoted through the type approval provisions. 
2.6. With regard to the 'essential requirements' listed 
in Article 3, the Committee urges that a clear distinction 
be made between essential safety requirements within 
the meaning of the Council Resolution of 7 May 1985 
on a new approach to technical harmonization and 
standards (points a) and b)) and requirements concern­
ing the technical efficiency of the system [points c), d), 
and e)]. 
3. Concluding remarks 
3.1. In the Committee's view the present Directive 
will only be fully effective if as many national standards 
and specifications as possible are harmonized. This 
standardization work at EC level is a matter of special 
urgency. It is no longer sufficient to harmonize existing 
national standards by means of a long process of adjust­
ment throughout the Community. Bodies such as CEN, 
Cenelec and ETSI must adopt a forward-looking 
approach so that EC technical standards are generally 
available before the production stage is reached. This 
is the only way to stem the emergence of de facto 
standards and the distortion of competition which such 
standards bring. 
(!) OJ No C 139, 5. 6. 1989, p. 31. 3.2. The problem is further complicated by the fact 
that all standards in the EC must, for technical and 
30. 12. 89 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 329/3 
economic reasons, broadly correspond to or supplement 
worldwide standards such as those laid down by inter­
national standardization bodies e.g. the International 
Organization for Standardization (ISO), CCITT and 
the International Radio Consultative Committee 
(CCIR). 
3.3. In the Committee's view, the draft Directive 
under consideration will, once it comes into force, also 
serve to stimulate standardization work at EC level, it 
being a sine qua non that the standards are interpreted 
and applied uniformly in all EC countries. Conversely, 
the existence of such EC standards is a prerequisite 
for the effective implementation of the current draft 
Directive and the attainment of the objectives set out 
by the Commission in, for example, the Green Paper 
Done at Brussels, 18 October 1989. on the development of the common market for telecom­
munications services and telecommunications equip­
ment. 
3.4. However, the Committee feels it essential to 
point out that improving the quality of the networks is 
at least as important as the recognition of the conform­
ity of terminal equipment. 
3.5. Finally, the Committee would observe that the 
results of the recent Economic Development Institute 
(EDI) conference which is organized in cooperation 
with the International Data Exchange Association 
(IDEA) show very clearly the importance of the measur­
es to optimize telecommunications in the Community 
envisaged in the proposed Council Directive. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Alberto MASPRONE