Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the "Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on measuring instruments"
Date: 2001-02-28
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: ISO, approximation of laws, harmonisation of standards, international standard, metrology, weights and measures

C 139/4

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

11.5.2001

Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Proposal for a Directive of the European
Parliament and of the Council on measuring instruments’

(2001/C 139/02)

On 9 October 2000 the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, under Article 95
of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the above-mentioned proposal.

The Section for the Single Market, Production and Consumption, which was responsible for preparing
the Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 7 February 2001. The rapporteur was
Mr Donovan.

At its 379th plenary session (meeting of 28 February 2001) the Economic and Social Committee adopted
the following opinion by 112 votes to one.

1.

Introduction

1.1.
The Commission’s proposal sets out a new structure
for the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States
concerning certain kinds of measuring instruments.

1.2.
Community legislation for measuring instruments
already exists but is outdated due to technological progress. It
is also cumbersome to update in its present legislative structure,
commonly known as the ‘old approach’ (Framework directive
71/316/EEC (1)). The new proposal is based on the principles
of the New Approach to Technical Harmonisation and Stan-
dards (2) and the Global Approach to Certification and Test-
ing (3). The proposed regime leads to the affixing of the CE
and the supplementary metrology (4) marking to conforming
instruments.

1.3.
The range of instruments covered includes most meter-
ing instruments for utilities such as water, heat, gas and
electricity as well as fuel dispensers, weighing and length
measuring instruments, drinking containers and taximeters.
This will
lead to the repeal of the vast bulk of existing
instrument Directives (11 Directives and their amendments)
dating from the 1970’s. A number of new instruments not
previously covered by Community legislation are also included,
reflecting the growing demand in the Member States for
instrument regulation, e.g. exhaust gas analysers and evidential
breath analysers.

2. General comments

The Committee approves the Commission’s proposal
2.1.
which aims to (a) underpin the high level of protection for
consumers already established in the laws of the Member
States, and (b) create free movement for measuring instruments
subject to legal controls.

(1) 71/316/EEC of 26.7.1971, OJ L 202, 6.9.1971, p. 1.
(2) Council Resolution of 7.5.1985.
(3) Council Decision 93/465/EEC of 22.7.1993, OJ L 220, 30.8.1993,

p. 23.

2.2.
The confidence of consumers, users, traders and State
services affected by the results of measurement must be
upheld by a credible and rigorous Community regime that
demonstrates that the highest level of protection is met. The
Committee notes that this proposal, along with the Directive
on Units of Measurement Directive 80/181/EEC (5) as last
amended in 1999 (6), supports such confidence.

2.3.
The Committee notes that the impact of the proposal
on consumers is unlikely to be detectable in so far as all the
types of instrument are already subject to legislation in one or
more of the Member States.

2.4.
The Committee notes, however, that the reform of the
conformity assessment procedures will impact on users and
It can be expected that costs incurred by
manufacturers.
manufacturers for multiple conformity assessments, the vast
majority of them based on third party testing, be reduced.

2.4.1.
The Committee welcomes the widening of the choice
of conformity assessment procedures as this should further
reduce the delay time between design and production to
marketing of instruments. Users should also benefit from a
wider range and availability of controlled instruments due to
the single market route.

The Committee also welcomes the comments from
2.5.
manufacturers on the positive aspect of the separation of
essential requirements (to be given in legislation) from per-
formance and technical specifications (to be given in standards
or normative documents)
leading to innovation in tech-
nologies.

2.6.
The Committee emphasises the importance of ensuring
that the instrument-specific annexes are not so overly detailed
as to inhibit technical innovation.

(5) 80/181/EEC of 20.12.1979, OJ L 039, 15.2.1980, p. 40.
(6) Directive 1999/103/EC of 24.1.2000, OJ L 034, 9.2.2000, p. 17;

(4) Conformity with metrology [Article 13(2)].

ESC Opinion OJ C 169, 16.6.1999.

11.5.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 139/5

3.

Specific comments

3.1.
The Committee is pleased to note that the proposal is
in that no other legislative regime may
of total character,
apply, while at the same time allowing Member States to
decide whether the control of a specific instrument is relevant
for their territory.

3.2.
The Committee wishes to draw the attention of the
Commission to the need of working closely with the Central
and Eastern European countries in order that they be up to
speed and ready to take on the responsibility of this proposal
in due time.

3.3.
The Committee is supportive of the co-operation of
the Member States in fora such as the OIML (1) (International

(1) The OIML is an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1955
whose objective is the harmonisation of regulations applied by its
members. All Member States of the European Union, EFTA and
most of the Central and Eastern European countries are either full
or corresponding members of OIML.

Brussels, 28 February 2001.

Organisation of Legal Metrology) and Welmec(2) (European
Co-operation in Legal Metrology)
legal
metrology.

in the area of

4. Conclusion

4.1.
The Committee approves the Commission’s proposal,
which it considers to be very timely and necessary in so far as
it provides for a high level of protection of measurement
results in the Community.

The Committee requests that the Commission keeps it
this

the implementation of

the progress of

4.2.
informed of
Directive.

(2) Welmec is the co-operation of legal metrology authorities of the
Union and EFTA countries with associate members from the
Central and Eastern European countries.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Göke FRERICHS