The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection adopted the report by Zuzana ROITHOVÁ (EPP, CZ) on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to making available on the market of lifts and safety components for lifts (recast).
The committee recommends that the position of the European Parliament adopted in first reading, following the ordinary legislative procedure, should amend the Commission proposal as follows:
Further align the Directive to the new legislative framework and ensure legal certainty: Members propose to amend the proposed Directive in order to reach a higher level of consistency with the terms used by the Decision No 768/2008/EC and to eliminate the possible inconsistencies in the text which could otherwise create legal uncertainty.
They also want to clarify the legal situation for products that have been legally placed on the market in compliance with the current Directive before the new Directive applies, but which are still in stock. In this respect, they suggest that economic operators should be able to sell stocks of simple pressure vessels that are already in the distribution chain on the date of application of national measures transposing the Directive.
Obligations imposed on economic operators: each lift must be accompanied by instructions and safety information. Manufacturers shall draw up the required technical documentation and carry out the applicable conformity assessment procedure. An amendment stipulates that manufacturers shall indicate, on the instrument (or on the label if this is not possible), their name, registered trade name or registered trade mark the postal, or, if available, the website address at which they can be contacted. The contact details shall be in a language easily understood by end-users and market surveillance authorities.
With a view to enhancing consumer protection, each lift must be accompanied by instructions and safety information for use drawn up in a language which can be easily understood by consumers and other end-users, as determined by the Member State concerned. Such instructions and safety information, and any labelling, shall be clear, understandable and intelligible. It is also proposed to enhance the safety requirements of vulnerable consumers by ensuring that the concept of the safety also includes the safety of children, elderly and the persons with disabilities in those cases, when the lifts are intended for transport of persons. Moreover, they consider that all obligations imposed on economic operators by this Directive should also apply in the case of distance selling.
EU declaration of conformity: upon request of the market surveillance authority, the economic operator shall provide a copy of the EU declaration of conformity in paper form or by electronic means and shall ensure that it is translated into the language or languages required by the Member State in which market the non-automatic weighing instruments is placed or made available.
To cut red tape, Members state that when issuing a single EU declaration of conformity could cause specific problems due to the complexity or scope of that single EU declaration, it should be possible to replace that single EU declaration by individual EU declarations of conformity.
Restrictive measures in the case of non-compliance: appropriate restrictive measures should be taken, such as withdrawal of the instrument from their market, without delay.
Improve market surveillance: Members propose that the Member States: (i) provide, on an annual basis, the Commission with details of the activities of their market surveillance authorities; (ii) provide adequate funding to their market surveillance authorities in order to ensure that their activities are coherent and effective across the Union.
Improper marking and penalties: Members call on the Member States to build upon existing mechanisms to ensure correct application of the regime governing the CE marking and to take appropriate action in the event of improper use of the marking. Rules on penalties applicable to infringements by economic operators may include criminal penalties for serious infringements. The penalties shall be effective, proportionate to the seriousness of the offence.
Transparency: the Commission should have the obligation to publish on the Internet the national provisions of transposed Directive and relevant sanctions.