Being one of the pillars of the
Internal Market, free movement of
goods has been at the centre of
the IMCO activities.
The measures adopted in this area
cover general issues as well as
specific product groups.
While the Regulation on European Standardisation and the NLF Alignment Package were of
a general and horizontal character, the IMCO Committee furthermore adopted 8 concrete
and substantial measures in product specific areas, of which 5 measures were related to
motor vehicles.
The regulation on European Standardisation aimed to ensure the continued success of the
European Standardisation system mainly by ensuring the the effectiveness and efficiency of
standards and standardisation as policy tools for the Union through cooperation between
European standardisation organisations, national standardisation bodies, Member States
and the Commission.
The NLF Alignment Package consists of nine directives being aligned, through a recast
technique, to the 'New Legislative Framework' (NLF) which was adopted as part of the
goods package from 2008, in particular decision No 768/2008/EC establishing a common
framework for the marketing of products.
The Radio Equipment Directive (RED) was subject not only to the alignment exercise but
also entailed a fully-fledged revision. The political agreement on RED was reached at the
second trialogue on 19 December 2013. The major success is the restriction of the scope of
the Directive to radio equipment capable of radio communication and/or radio
determination. The COREPER agreed to the compromise text on 17 January 2014, the
outcome of the trialogue negotiations was approved in IMCO Committee on 23 January
2014 and plenary vote was held on 13 March 2014.
The Construction Products Regulation (CPR), aimed to simplify and clarify the existing
framework for the placing on the market of construction products, entered into force on 24
April 2011, while some of the provisions entered into force on 1 July 2013 to allow
businesses necessary time for the adaptation to the new legislation. It lays down the
conditions for the placing or making available on the market of construction products by
establishing harmonised rules on how to express the performance of construction products
in relation to their essential characteristics and on the use of CE marking on those products.
Several delegated acts supplementing and/or amending the CPR are currently in the
pipeline.
The Regulation on Textile Products lays down rules concerning the use of textile fibre
names and related labelling and marking of fibre composition of textile products. It also set
rules concerning the labelling or marking of textile products containing non-textile parts of
animal origin, as well as rules concerning the determination of the fibre composition of
textile products. The general objectives are to improve the functioning of the internal
market and to provide accurate information to consumers.
Following an agreement at first reading, the European Parliament and Council adopted the
Regulation on the approval of agricultural or forestry vehicles. The Regulation establishes
the administrative and technical requirements for the type-approval of all new vehicles,
systems, components and separate technical units. It also lays down the requirements for
the market surveillance of vehicles, systems, components and separate technical units
which are subject to approval. In particular, it applies to the following vehicles: tractors
(categories T and C), trailers (category R); and interchangeable towed equipment (category
S). For certain vehicles the manufacturer may choose whether to apply for approval under
the Regulation or whether to comply with the relevant national requirements: (a) trailers
(category R) and interchangeable towed equipment (category S); (b) track-laying tractors
(category C); (c) special purpose wheeled tractors (categories T4.1 and T4.2).
IMCO furthermore adopted the Regulation on the type-approval and market surveillance
of two-or-three wheel vehicles and quadricycles. The Regulation covers mopeds,
motorcycles, on-road quads and mini-cars (L-category vehicles) and simplifies and codifies
existing rules. This simplified regulatory approach will ensure greater coherence and
facilitate the adaptation to future technical progress. Constructors will no longer be
confronted with different regulatory requirements addressing the same concern as
duplications of international standards are eliminated. In addition the Regulation foresees
that the emission levels of these vehicles are decreased and that vehicle safety is upgraded
in order to meet the EU´s road safety targets.
The Framework Directive 2007/46/EC on type-approval of motor vehicles has been subject
to amendment aimed at introducing in the EC type-approval system the technical
requirements regarding the eCall in-vehicle system. When put in place, this legislation will
ensure that all new models of passenger cars and light duty vehicles will be equipped with
an emergency call system, known as eCall, an in-vehicle communication technology which
will automatically call emergency services in case of a severe accident and thus shorten
dramatically the time of intervention of those services and save thousands of lives across
the EU.
The Recreational Craft Directive was adopted in 1994 to regulate the placing on the market
of pleasure boats on the European market. It lays down essential safety requirement that
manufacturers shall respect when designing watercraft in order to place those safe
watercraft on the EU market. The manufacturers must fulfil several obligations in order to
show that their product complies with the Directive, including a Declaration of Conformity
of the watercraft with the essential requirements of the Directive, affixing the CE marking
on the product and providing the users with information on the use and maintenance of the
product. The revision of the Directive substantially modernises existing EU rules on safety
and environmental performance requirements for watercrafts designed for private use
activities i.e. leisure, sporting and training activities including when hired, with or without
crews.