Report from the Commission on the application by the Member States of Council Directive 99/36/EC on transportable pressure equipment
Date: 2005-09-09
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EC conformity marking, application of EU law, pressure equipment, roadworthiness tests, safety standard, transport of dangerous goods, transport safety

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 9.9.2005 
COM(2005) 415 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

ON THE APPLICATION BY THE MEMBER STATES OF COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 
99/36/EC ON TRANSPORTABLE PRESSURE EQUIPMENT 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. DIRECTIVE 99/36/EC .......................................................................................................... 3 

2. ARTICLE 4 OF DIRECTIVE 99/36/EC ............................................................................... 4 

3. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 4 BY THE MEMBER STATES ......................................... 5 

4. IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 4 BY THE MEMBER STATES................................ 5 

5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................. 5 

ANNEX: SUMMARY OF APPLICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 4 OF 
DIRECTIVE 99/36/EC BY THE MEMBER STATES ............................................................. 6 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

ON THE APPLICATION BY THE MEMBER STATES OF COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 
99/36/EC ON TRANSPORTABLE PRESSURE EQUIPMENT 

1. DIRECTIVE 99/36/EC 

Council  Directive  99/36/EC  of  29  April  19991  on  transportable  pressure  equipment,  as 
amended2, is an act under the ‘New Approach’ to product regulation covering the certification 
of  such  equipment.  The  purpose  of  the  Directive  is  to  enhance  the  safety  of  transportable 
pressure  equipment  in  the  inland  transport  of  dangerous  goods  and  to  ensure  the  free 
movement of such equipment within the Community, including its placing on the market and 
continued use.  

Annexes IV and V to Directive 99/36/EC set out specific certification procedures for new and 
existing equipment and cover:  

•  conformity assessment of new transportable pressure equipment;  

•  conformity  reassessment  and  periodic  inspections  of  existing  transportable  pressure 

equipment.  

The Directive also stipulates that only particular inspection bodies accredited by the national 
competent authorities are authorised to certify equipment under those certification procedures. 
Normally,  conformity  assessments  and  reassessments  have  to  be  carried  out  by  a  notified 
body.  However,  conformity  assessments  for  the  purpose  of  placing  new  equipment  on  the 
national market of a particular Member State and periodic inspections can also be carried out 
by an approved body. Annexes I, II and III to the Directive set out the minimum criteria to be 
met by notified and approved bodies. 

Annex VII to the Directive specifies that a pi-mark should be affixed on the equipment as a 
sign of certification. 

Member States should have adopted and published the domestic legislation needed to comply 
with  the  Directive  no  later  than  1  December  2000.  They  should  also  have  adopted  the 
provisions necessary to apply the Directive no later than 1 July 2001, but this time limit was 
extended  for  certain  equipment.  For  pressure  drums,  bundles  of  cylinders  and  tanks  the 
implementation  date  was  changed  to  1  July  2005  by  the  Commission  Decision  of  18  July 
20033. 

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OJ L 138, 01.06.1999, p. 20. 
Directive 99/36/EC was amended to adapt the Annexes to technical progress by Commission Directive 
2001/2/EC of 4 January 2001 (OJ L 5, 10.01.2001, p.4) and by Commission Directive 2002/50/EC of 6 
June 2002 (OJ L 149, 07.06.2002, p.28). 
OJ No L 183, 22.07.2003, p.45. 

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2. ARTICLE 4 OF DIRECTIVE 99/36/EC 

Article 4 of Directive 99/36/EC sets out specific provisions for placing transportable pressure 
equipment products on the national market of a particular Member State.  

Under  Article  4,  Member  States  may  authorise  on  their  territory  the  placing  on  the  market, 
transport  and  putting  into  service  by  users  of  receptacles  the  conformity  of  which  has  been 
assessed by an approved body. 

Article 4(5) states that the Commission must monitor and evaluate the effects of Article 4, as 
from  1  July  2004,  and  report  back  to  the  Council  and  the  European  Parliament.  For  that 
purpose, a survey was carried out among Member States in July 2004. Member States were 
asked to provide the Commission with information on the application and implementation of 
Article  4  in  their  territory.  All  the  Member  States  sent  the  required  information,  except  for 
Greece. 

The  key  points  of  the  survey  were  two  questions  regarding  the  application  and 
implementation of Article 4: 

(1) 

“Do  you  [Member  State]  authorise,  in  your  territory,  the  placing  on  the  market, 
transport and putting into service by users, of the receptacles the conformity of which 
has  been  assessed  by  an  approved  body,  as  permitted  in  Article  4(1)?  If  so,  please 
indicate  the  relevant  article  of  your  legislation  and  indicate  which  modules  of 
conformity assessment these approved bodies are recognised to use, if they are not all 
those referred in Article 4(4).” 

(2) 

“Has any entity asked to be recognised to be an approved body for the purpose of the 
placing on the national market of the above mentioned receptacles? Of those entities, 
how many obtained the respective recognition as approved bodies for that purpose?” 

The answers given to these questions by Member States are summarised in the Annex to this 
report. 

3. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 4 BY THE MEMBER STATES 

The answers to question 1 demonstrate that many Member States have not availed themselves 
of  the  option  offered  by  Article  4.  Ten  Member  States  (Belgium,  France,  Ireland,  Italy, 
Lithuania,  Hungary,  Malta,  Netherlands,  Slovenia  and  the  United  Kingdom)  decided  to  use 
the option. However, 14 Member States decided not to use the option (Greece did not reply). 

4. IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 4 BY THE MEMBER STATES 

The  answers  to  question  2  show  that  the  practical  implementation  of  Article  4  has  hardly 
begun. While 10 Member States decided to use the option given in Article 4, only Lithuania, 
Hungary  and  Slovenia  have  had  applications  to  recognise  some  approved  bodies.  However, 
none of the applicants have obtained recognition yet.  

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5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 

A majority of Member States have decided not to avail themselves of the option offered by 
Article 4 of Directive 99/36/EC for their domestic legislation. In other words, a majority of 
Member States do not permit approved bodies to carry out conformity assessments for placing 
new transportable pressure equipment on the national market. 

In  addition,  in  the  Member  States  that  have  used  the  option  given  in  Article  4,  practical 
implementation has hardly begun. Only in Lithuania, Hungary and Slovenia are applications 
under consideration to recognise approved bodies, but so far none has been recognised. 

Bearing in mind that the implementation of the Directive is currently still partial, until 1 July 
2005,  final  conclusions  and  recommendations  on  Article  4  should  only  be  taken  after  that 
date,  i.e.  after  the  Directive  has  become  fully  applicable  to  all  transportable  pressure 
equipment (including pressure drums, bundles of cylinders and tanks). 

The  Commission  will  come  back  to  this  issue  when  the  Member  States  have  gained 
experience of applying the Directive in full. 

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ANNEX 

SUMMARY  OF  APPLICATION  AND  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  ARTICLE  4  OF 
DIRECTIVE 99/36/EC BY THE MEMBER STATES 

MEMBER STATES 

Answer to question 1 

Answer to question 2 

BELGIQUE – BELGIÊ (Belgium) 

CESKA REPUBLIKA (Czech Republic) 

DANMARK (Denmark) 

DEUTSCHLAND (Germany) 

EESTI (Estonia) 

ELLAS (Greece) 

ESPAÑA (Spain) 

FRANCE (France) 

IRELAND (Ireland) 

ITALIA (Italy) 

KYPROS (Cyprus) 

LATVIJA (Latvia) 

LIETUVA (Lithuania) 

LUXEMBOURG (Luxemburg) 

MAGYARORSZAG (Hungary) 

MALTA (Malta) 

NEDERLAND (Netherlands) 

ÖSTERREICH (Austria) 

POLSKA (Poland) 

PORTUGAL (Portugal) 

SLOVENIJA (Slovenia) 

SLOVENSKO (Slovakia) 

SUOMI (Finland) 

SVERIGE (Sweden) 

UNITED KINGDOM (United Kingdom) 

YES 

NO 

NO 

NO 

NO 

- 

NO 

YES 

YES 

YES 

NO 

NO 

YES 

NO 

YES 

YES 

YES 

NO 

NO 

NO 

YES 

NO 

NO 

NO 

YES 

NO 

NO 

NO 

NO 

NO 

- 

NO 

NO 

NO 

NO 

NO 

NO 

YES (none authorised yet) 

NO 

YES (none authorised yet) 

NO 

NO 

NO 

NO 

NO 

YES (none authorised yet) 

NO 

NO 

NO 

NO 

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