WRITTEN QUESTION E-3252/98

by Karin Riis-Jørgensen (ELDR) to the Commission

(28 October 1998)

Subject: Mutual recognition of solar panel standards DIN 4757 and ISO 9806

With regard to the mutual recognition of standards, is it reasonable, in the Commission's view, that a solar panel tested and authorised in one Member State (Denmark, ISO 9806) is required to be tested and approved again (to DIN 4757) when sold to another Member State (Germany)? It should be borne in mind that the DIN 4757 and ISO 9806 standards are broadly identical and that both Denmark and Germany have concluded agreements for the mutual recognition of test results (through the European Accreditation Organisation).

Non-approval of other Member States' test results in this area means, in Germany, that the seller is indirectly forced to accept a German test, as German subsidies would otherwise not be forthcoming, rendering the price uncompetitive in real terms on the German market.

In the Commission's view, is it reasonable to require a national test in order to receive national subsidies?

Is it reasonable that some Member States, and regions, can continue to invoke "special" circumstances which differ from other Member States/regions?

Will the Commission explain in detail how, in fact, it is endeavouring to harmonise the rules in this area so that goods can in future be traded in accordance with internal market rules, without being subject to checks twice over?

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(14 January 1999)

It follows from the principle of mutual recognition that a Member State is not entitled to prevent the marketing of a product originating in another Member State if in that Member State the level of protection provided to users of that product is equivalent to that which the national rules are intended to ensure or establish. Where there is such equivalence, a Member State would breach the principle of proportionality if it required such imported products to comply strictly and exactly with the provisions or technical requirements laid down for domestic products.

Similarly, although in the absence of harmonised rules a Member State is free to require a product which has already received approval in another Member State to undergo a fresh procedure of examination and approval, it is nevertheless under a duty to assist in bringing about a relaxation of the controls existing in intra-Community trade. Thus the authorities of the Member States are not entitled unnecessarily to require technical or chemical analyses or laboratory tests when the same analyses or tests have already been carried out in that other Member State and their results are available to those authorities or may at their request be placed at their disposal.

A voluntary industry norm (like the Deutsches Industrie norm (DIN) mentioned) as such cannot be considered as a state measure which can be contested. Furthermore, according to the information available the International organization for the standardization (ISO) standard ISO 9806 does not seem to be equivalent to the German standard DIN 4757. However, the Commission would be concerned if a national rule required that a product must undergo a national test in order to be eligible for a national subsidy. In this context the Commission would need more detailed information in order to examine the situation fully.

Therefore, it is recommended that an economic operator affected by the requirement to have a solar panel re-examined and to request authorisation from a German authority should transmit the relevant documentation to the Commission for evaluation under the above mentioned general principles of mutual recognition. In order to harmonise certain aspects related to solar captors the Commission has given a standardisation mandate to the European committee for standardization (CEN) in order to prepare European standards in this area. This work is being carried out by CEN technical committee 312 and a European standard is expected to be adopted next year.