WRITTEN QUESTION E-3424/98

by Karin Riis-Jørgensen (ELDR) to the Commission

(24 November 1998)

Subject: Implementation of the Machinery Directive

The EU Machinery Directive was adopted about nine years ago, but surveys reveal that little more than 200 of the approximately 900 standards for machinery have been adopted. Commission surveys also show that, in general, two thirds of the approximately 2 900 technical standards have not yet been approved and that, on average, it takes six years and three months to draw up a CEN standard.

Will the Commission, in such a vast and important sector of trade in the EU as machinery, be able to make additional efforts, speedily and effectively, given that only about one quarter of the standards for which the Machinery Directive provides have been finalised?

Will it also explain what specific action it intends to take in order to step up the pace of standardisation generally, so as to reduce the average time needed for the adoption of standards?

Has it given any thought to how in future, even when all the standards have been finalised, it will be possible to ensure that the goods concerned may bought and sold without checks being duplicated and in accordance with internal market rules, so that Member States and regions cannot keep invoking special circumstances and thus obtain derogations from the EU rules that have been adopted and are in force?

Answer given by Mr Bangemann on behalf of the Commission

(14 January 1999)

Standardization in the machinery area has begun slowly, and there has been a steady output of standards for only a few years now. This is due mainly to the need to find a consensus amongst all interested parties, and to ensure a high level of safety, even if this implies longer periods for the adoption of standards. The Commission implements the various measures indicated in the report on efficiency and accountability in European standardization under the new approach(1), in order to speed up the process. In particular, it has insisted to the European standards bodies to make available a common Web site indicating the state of progress in standardization. Furthermore, the Commission has invited the European committee for standardisation (CEN), the European committee for electrotechnical standardisation (Cenelec) and the European telecommunications standards institute (ETSI), which are primarily responsible for the management of the standardization process, to explain their measures on efficiency to national authorities, grouped in the senior officials groups for standardization.

The Commission is not aware of significant difficulties in relation to the free movement of goods. The essential requirements are drawn up in a very detailed way, and more than 95 % of types of machinery can be put on the market by a manufacturer's declaration, even in the absence of European standards. It would be interesting to have concrete evidence of double controls, to which reference is made. It is precisely the respect of Community legislation that allows the products to circulate freely in the Community without repetition of controls. To this end the CE marking offers a useful indication that these rules have been respected.

(1) COM(98) 291 final.