CELEX: 51985PC0230(02)
Language: en
Date: 1985-06-25
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DIRECTIVE CONCERNING THE FIRST PHASE OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MUTUAL RECOGNITION OF TYPE APPROVAL FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS TERMINAL EQUIPMENT

12.9.85                                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                    No C 232/9
                    2.4.4. the creation of a suitable structure for arrangements that go beyond the framework of
                            industrial standardization, depend on agreements concluded in particular fields of pro-
                            fessional activity and contribute to the efficient exchange of information (travel agency
                            transactions, automation of money transactions, computerization of customs documents,
                            etc.);
                    2.4.5. measures to be taken in respect of production automation, office automation and micro-
                           computing which will affect interface standardization in particular;
                    2.4.6. studies and projects relating specifically to standardization in the field of information
                           technology.
            3. Measures relating to the application of standards in the public procurement sector
               3.1. Determination of the most efficient methods of ensuring the rapid application in the public
                    procurement sector of the standards and technical specifications drawn up in the context of the
                    abovementioned activities;
               3.2. Examination of the effects in the public procurement sector of the complete application of the
                    relevant Community rules, involving in particular:
                    — a comparison of the progress made by the European industry in the light of the measures taken
                        by the Member States in connection with public procurement in the data-processing field,
                    — collection of the necessary statistics,
                    — promotion of equal conditions of access to Community public procurement contracts for under-
                        takings within the framework of Council Directive 77/62/EEC of 21 December 1976 coordi-
                        nating procedures for the award of public supply contracts;
               3.3. Coordination of national measures in respect of general systems evaluation and, in conjunction
                    with national research centres in the data-processing field, the adoption of principles with a view to
                    the definition of evaluation criteria;
               3.4. Examination of the possibility of establishing a number of principles to be applied in evaluating
                    proposals;
               3.5. Examination of the possibility of establishing common principles for the definition of specifications;
               3.6. Coordination of the exchange of technical experience between national bodies responsible for
                    public procurement and the promotion of such exchange through coordination of the activities of
                    the national research centres in the data-processing field;
               3.7. Identification of topics likely to lead to the development of projects of common interest to public
                    procurement agencies.
            Proposal for a Council Directive concerning the first phase of the establishment of the mutual
                          recognition of type approval for telecommunications terminal equipment
                                                          COM(85) 230 final
                                  (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 30 May 1985)
                                                            (85/C 232/04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                               Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
                                                                       Social Committee,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Economic Community, and in particular Article 100
thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                     Whereas the mutual recognition of type approval            for
                                                                       telecommunications terminal equipment features in          the
Having regard     to    the    opinion     of  the    European         communication from the Commission to the Council            on
Parliament,                                                            Telecommunications of 18 May 1984, in                      the
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 232/10                             Official Journal of the European Communities                                   12.9.85
recommendations of 12 November 1984 concerning the                  Whereas the Council Directives 73/23/EEC (2) of 19
implementation of harmonization in the field of                     February 1973 on the harmonization of the laws of the
telecommunications and the first phase of opening up                Member States relating to electrical equipment designed
access to public telecommunications contracts, and in the           for use within certain voltage limits and 83/189/EEC (3)
conclusions of the Council meeting of 17 December                   of 28 March 1983 laying down a procedure for the
1984 concerning a Community telecommunications                      provision of information in the field of technical
policy;                                                             standards and regulations are applicable in particular to
                                                                    information technology and telecommunications;
Whereas the market in telecommunications terminal
equipment and use of the full potential of the new                  Whereas the Memorandum of Understanding between
telecommunications       services   are of       considerable       the European Conference of Postal and Telecommuni-
importance for the economic development of the                      cations Administrations (CEPT) and the Commission
Community;                                                          concerning standards and type-approval for telecom-
                                                                    munications equipment and the general guidelines agreed
Whereas it is absolutely essential to establish or                  with the common European standardization organization
consolidate a European industrial potential in the                  C E N / C E N E L E C henceforth make it possible to entrust
technologies concerned;                                             specialized technical harmonization work to those
                                                                    bodies;
Whereas it is highly desirable to make rapid progress
towards establishing a common market in this sector, in             Whereas it is necessary to set up a Committee, with the
particular, in order to offer the industry an improved              task of assisting the Commission in implementing this
base for its operations and to facilitate the adoption of a         Directive and in progressively establishing the mutual
joint position with respect to non-member countries;                recognition of type approval for terminal equipment,
Whereas the mutual recognition of type approval for                 HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
terminal equipment constitutes a major step towards the
establishment of a common market in this sector;
                                                                                                Article 1
Whereas, since situations differ and technical and                  The mutual recognition of type approval                   for
administrative constraints exist in the Member States,              telecommunications terminal equipment produced in
progress towards this objective should be made in stages;           quantity shall be established by stages. Its first stage,
whereas, in particular, the mutual recognition of type              which is the mutual recognition of the results of
approval for terminal equipment produced in quantity                conformity tests on terminal equipment, shall be attained
should be preceded by an interim stage during which                 in accordance with the provisions of this Directive.
there is mutual recognition of conformity tests on such
equipment;
                                                                                                Article 2
Whereas such an approach should be based on the                     For the purposes of this Directive:
definition of common technical specifications founded
on international standards and specifications and on the              1. telecommunications       administrations   means    the
harmonization of general technical requirements for                      administrations or private operating agencies
testing, measuring and approval procedures in the areas                  recognized in the Community and offering public
of information technology and telecommunications;                        telecommunications services;
Whereas a general standardization programme is being                  2. terminal equipment means equipment directly or
implemented in the information technology and                            indirectly connected to the extremities of a public
telecommunications sector;                                               telecommunications network to send, process or
                                                                         receive information;
Whereas the Council Directive on standardization in the
field of information technology and telecommuni-                      3. technical specification means a specification contained
cations (') provides a general framework for the                         in a document which lays down the characteristics
drawing-up of standards or common                    technical           required of a product such as levels of quality, per-
specifications within which the work on telecommuni-                     formance, safety or dimensions, including the
cations, because of its specific nature, should be                       requirements applicable to the product as regards
organized more precisely and more fully with a view to                   terminology, symbols, testing and test methods,
the mutual recognition of the results of conformity tests                packaging, marking and labelling;
on terminals;
                                                                    (*) OJ No L 77, 26. 3. 1973, p. 29.
(l) Directive proposed on the same date.                            (») OJ No L 109, 26. 4. 1983, p. 8.
 ---pagebreak--- 12.9.85                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 232/11
 4. international technical specification in telecommuni-          13. common conformity test specification means a
    cations means the technical specification of all or                 conformity test specification used in all the
    some characteristics of a product, recommended by                   Community Member States by the authority
    such organizations as CCITT or CEPT;                                competent for testing the conformity of terminal
                                                                        equipment; it includes the definition of all the tests
                                                                        required by each of the Member States for that
 5. common technical specification means a technical
                                                                       purpose;
    specification which has been drafted with a view to
    uniform application in all the Member States of the
    Community;                                                     14. common type approval specification means a type
                                                                        approval specification which is used in all the
                                                                        Community Member States by all the authorities
 6. standard means a technical specification approved by                empowered to grant type approval for terminal
    a recognized standards body for repeated or                         equipment;
    continuous application, compliance with which is not
    compulsory;                                                    15. mutual recognition of the results of conformity tests on
                                                                        terminal equipment means a situation where, when an
 7. international standard means a standard adopted by a                approved laboratory or the competent authority in a
    recognized international standards body;                            Member State issues a certificate, accompanied by
                                                                       test data and identification details, stating that a
                                                                       terminal is in conformity with a common
 8. approved testing laboratory means a laboratory the                  specification of conformity tests or a part thereof,
    conformity of which with the accreditation criteria                that certificate is recognized in the other Member
    established by specialized bodies (see in particular                States, so that if the terminal in question is the
    ISO guides 25 and 40) has been verified by the                      subject of an application for type approval in another
    appropriate Member State and which is approved by                   Member State, it no longer has to be subjected to
    that Member State to conduct conformity tests on                   the tests for verifying conformity with that
    terminal equipment;                                                 specification, or with the part of that specification
                                                                       concerning the tests carried out;
 9. certificate of conformity means the document
    certifying that a product or service conforms to               16. mutual recognition of type approval for terminal
    given standards or other technical specifications;                  equipment means a situation where, when the
                                                                       competent authority of a Member State issues, on
                                                                       the basis of a common type approval specification, a
10. type approval of terminal equipment means the auth-                type approval in respect of terminal equipment, that
    orization delivered by the competent authority of a                type approval is recognized in the other Member
    Member State to connect to a public network                         States, so that the terminal equipment can, without
    terminal equipment which has been recognized, on                   further technical verification, be connected to any
    completion of tests carried out by approved labora-                 Community network deemed to offer the service for
    tories, as being in conformity with a type-approval                which that terminal equipment was designed. It is
    specification;                                                      assumed that the vendor will have set the terminal
                                                                       equipment to suit historical peculiarities of national
11. conformity test specification means a specificatidn                networks or national provisions for radio-frequency
    containing the essential technical characteristics of               spectrum use.
    the relevant terminal equipment together with a
    precise definition of the methods for measuring each
    characteristic; the specification may also include                                       Article 3
    requirements made necessary in a given State by                The Commission shall:
    historical network peculiarities or established
    national provisions concerning the use of radio
                                                                   1. draw up each year, after consulting the Committee
    frequencies;
                                                                      referred to in Article 4 and with due regard to the
                                                                      general programme of standardization in the infor-
12. type approval specification means a specification                 mation technology sector, a list of international
    setting out the full and precise requirements that                standards and international technical specifications in
    must be satisfied by terminal equipment to be                     telecommunications to be harmonized and a list of
    granted type approval and in particular the                       terminal equipment for which common conformity
    requirements covering the essential objectives of user            test specifications or possibly common type approval
    safety (in compliance with Directive 73/23/EEC),                  specifications should be drafted as a matter of
    network safety and the inter-working of terminals; it             priority; it shall also draw up a timetable for this
    includes the conformity test specification and also               work;
    administrative requirements and, where appropriate,
    requirements concerning quality control operations             2. request a specialized organization, selected after
    to be carried out during the manufacture of the                   consulting the Committee referred to in Article 4, to
    equipment;                                                        carry out, within the specified time limits, the
 ---pagebreak--- No C 232/12                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                     12.9.85
   technical work needed to arrive at the common                 1. The Commission shall submit to the Committee the
   conformity test specifications and common type                     proposal for a common conformity test specification
   approval specifications identified in the list of                  or a common type approval specification drawn up on
   priorities referred to in point 1 above; the common                the basis of the work referred to in Article 3 (2). The
   type approval specification constituting the common                Committee shall deliver its opinion on that proposal
   conformity test specification shall be drafted as a                within two months, adopting the opinion by a
   matter of priority;                                                qualified majority. The votes of Member States within
                                                                      the Committee shall be weighted in accordance with
3. adopt by the procedure set out in Article 5 the                    Article 148 (2) of the Treaty; the chairman shall not
   proposals for common conformity test specifications                vote;
   and common type approval specifications, and publish
   them in the Official Journal; this publication shall          2. where the proposal is in accordance with the
   include without modification the requirements made                 Committee's opinion as thus expressed, the
   necessary in a given Member State by historical                    Commission shall adopt the provisions submitted
   network peculiarities or established provisions                    therein;
   concerning the use of radio frequencies;
                                                                 3. where the proposal is not in accordance with the
4. after consulting the Committee referred to in Article 4            opinion of the Committee, or in the absence of any
   establish the measures necessary to facilitate the                 opinion, the Commission shall forthwith submit the
   implementation of this Directive; those measures may,              proposal to the Council in the form of a draft
   in particular, concern the period of time allowed for              decision. The Council shall act by a qualified
   the execution of the additional tests mentioned in                 majority.
   Article 7 (1).
                                                                      If, within two months from the date on which the
                                                                      matter was referred to it, the Council has not acted,
                          Article 4                                   the proposed measures shall be adopted by the
                                                                      Commission.
1.     In the accomplishment of the tasks referred to in
Article 3 the Commission shall be assisted by a
Committee which for the purposes of this Directive shall                                      Article 6
be the Senior Officials Group on Telecommunications.
                                                                  1.     Each Member State shall inform the Commission of
The members of the Committee may be assisted by
                                                                  the authority or authorities competent in its territory to
experts or advisers, according to the nature of the
                                                                  issue type-approval for terminal equipment. The
question under discussion and the Committee shall be
chaired by a Commission representative.                           Commission shall publish a list of these authorities in the
                                                                  Official Journal of the European Communities.
2.     The Commission may consult the Committee on
any matter falling within the scope of this Directive. The        2.     Each Member State shall send the Commission a
Commission shall consult the Committee on:                        list of the laboratories which it has approved for the
                                                                  purpose of verifying the conformity of terminal
                                                                  equipment       with    the     common      conformity    test
(a) the broad objectives and the future needs of the              specifications and shall regularly submit a report on the
     telecommunications standardization policy,                   activities of these laboratories in the field covered by this
                                                                  Directive. Such lists and reports shall be transmitted to
(b) problems raised by the approval of testing labora-            the Committee for information.'
     tories,
(c) the adoption of proposals for common conformity               3. > The common conformity test specifications shall be
     test specifications and common type approval                 used by the approved laboratories for the conformity
     specifications under the conditions laid down in             tests on the terminal equipment concerned. If a Member
     Article 5.                                                   State considers it necessary, it may request that the part
                                                                  of the conformity tests relating to historical network
                                                                  peculiarities or established national provisions concerning
3.     The Committee shall adopt its own rules of                 the use of radio frequencies be carried out by a
procedure.                                                        laboratory under its jurisdiction.
4.     The secretariat of the Committee shall be provided         4.     The certificate of conformity with a common type
by the Commission.                                                approval or conformity test specification, accompanied
                                                                  by test data issued by the competent authority on the
                          Article 5                               basis of tests carried out by an approved laboratory, shall
                                                                  be recognized in each Member State for type approval of
The procedure for the adoption of the common                      the relevant terminal equipment by the competent type
conformity test specifications or common type approval            approval authority. The certificate of conformity must be
specifications shall be as follows:                               accompanied by the data obtained                  from     the
 ---pagebreak---  12.9.85                                 Official Journal of the European Communities                             No C 232/13
 measurements performed during the conformity tests, all             taken by the Member State or whether to uphold the
the information necessary for precise identification of the          certificate of conformity, or whether, with the agreement
terminal equipment on which the tests were made, and                 of the party seeking type approval, to request that a
the precise indication of the common conformity test                 second set of additional tests be carried out in an
specification, or part thereof, used for the tests.                  approved laboratory in a third Member State before the
                                                                    final decision. If the results of the additional tests
5.     The authorities empowered in the Member States                indicate that the safeguard measures should be main-
to issue type approval for telecommunications terminals             tained the party requesting type approval shall bear their
shall recognize for the purposes of type approval the               costs. If the results of the additional tests indicate that
certificates of conformity with their own national                  the safeguard measures should not be maintained the
standards issued by approved laboratories in other                  Member State or its authority empowered to give type
Member States where there are no common                             approval, if so specified by that State, shall bear the
specifications for such terminals.                                  costs.
6.     The Governments of the Member States shall                   4.     If the Commission considers that modifications to
ensure that the administrations make reference to any               the common type-approval specifications are necessary,
existing common conformity test specifications and                  these modifications shall be made in accordance with
common type approval specifications when they purchase              Article 3 (2) and (3). In this event the Member State
terminal     equipment normally covered by such                     which has taken safeguard measures may retain them
specifications.                                                     until such modifications have entered into force.
7.     The Member States shall consult within the                   5.     When a Member State finds that terminal
Committee referred to in Article 4, so as to bring about            equipment which has already been approved is a danger
the progressive alignment of the costs for carrying out             to the national network, its services or its users, it may
the same series of conformity tests in all the approved             take safeguard measures by suspending type approval but
laboratories.                                                       shall immediately initiate the procedure set out in
                                                                    paragraphs 1 and 2.
                           Article 7
                                                                                              Article 8
1.    Where a Member State establishes, on the basis of
an examination of the common conformity test                        The Commission shall draw up detailed rules for the
specification and the test results that terminal equipment,         implementation during a second stage of the mutual
tests on which have been carried out by an approved                 recognition of type-approval for terminal equipment and
laboratory in another Member State, does not meet one               shall submit a proposal to the Council within a period of
or more of the essential requirements referred to in                two years following the adoption of this Directive.
Article 2 (12) it may, before granting type approval,
request within a reasonable period tests additional to                                        Article 9
those already carried out. It shall immediately inform the
Commission and the other Member States thereof,                     This Directive shall not prejudice the application of
stating the reasons for its decision.                               Directive 83/189/EEC.
2.    When the finding referred to in paragraph 1                                             Article 10
concerns the electrical safety for users of a terminal              1.     Member States shall bring into force the measures
falling within the scope of Directive 73/23/EEC, the                necessary to comply with this Directive b y . . . and shall
measures to be taken by a Member State shall comply                 forthwith inform the Commission thereof.
with the procedure in Article 9 thereof.
                                                                    2.     Member States shall ensure that the Commission is
3.    The Member State shall inform the Commission                  informed of the main provisions of national law which
and the other Member States of the results of the                   they adopt in the field governed by this Directive.
additonal tests. If those results are such that the Member
State regards them as unsatisfactory, the Commission
                                                                                              Article 11
shall decide within six weeks, after consulting the
Committee, whether to endorse the safeguard measures                This Directive is addressed to the Member States.