Section X TECHNICAL REGULATION

 

 

Article 51

 

General Principles of Technical Regulation

 

1. Technical regulation within the Union shall be carried out in accordance with the following principles:

 

           determination of mandatory requirements to products or to products and product-related requirements to design (including research), manufacture, construction, installation, commissioning, operation, storage, transportation, sale and disposal;

 

           determination of common mandatory requirements in technical regulations of the Union or national mandatory requirements in the legislation of the Member States to the products included in the common list of products subject to mandatory requirements within the Union (hereinafter

 

“the common list”);

 

           application and enforcement of technical regulations of the Union in the Member States without exceptions;

 

           compliance of technical regulations within the Union with the level of economic development of the Member States and the level of scientific and technological development;

 

           independence of accreditation authorities, conformity authorisation authorities and supervision (control) authorities of the Member States from manufacturers, sellers and purchasers, including consumers;

 

           uniformity of researches (test) rules and methods and all measurements during mandatory conformity assessment procedures;

 

 

 

7) uniformity in the application of the requirements of the Union’s technical regulations, regardless of types and|or specific features of transactions;

 

           inadmissibility of any restrictions of competition in conformity assessments;

 

           state control (supervision) over the observance of technical regulations of the Union based on the harmonisation of the legislation of the Member States;

 

                 voluntary application of standards;

 

                 development and application of interstate standards;

 

                 harmonisation of interstate standards with international and regional standards;

 

                 uniformity of rules and procedures for mandatory conformity assessments;

 

                 ensuring harmonisation of the legislation of the Member States with regard to determining liability for violations of mandatory requirements to products, as well as rules and procedures of mandatory conformity assessments;

 

                 implementation of agreed policy for ensuring uniformity of measurements within the Union;

 

                 preventing  the  establishment  of  redundant  barriers  to  business

 

activities;

 

                 establishing transitional provisions for a phase transition to new requirements and documents.

 

2. The provisions of this Section shall not be extended to establish and apply sanitary, veterinary-sanitary and phytosanitary quarantine measures.

 

 

 

           The rules and procedures of technical regulation within the Union shall be established in accordance with Annex 9 to this Treaty.

 

           Agreed policy for ensuring uniformity of measurements within the Union shall be carried out in accordance with Annex 10 to this Treaty.

 

Article 52

 

Technical Regulations and Standards of the Union

 

 

           Technical regulations of the Union shall be adopted in order to protect life and|or health of people, property, environment, life and|or health of animals and plants, prevent consumer misleading actions and ensure energy efficiency and resource conservation in the Union.

 

It shall not be allowed to adopt technical regulations of the Union for any other purposes.

 

The procedure for the development and adoption of technical regulations of the Union, as well as the procedure for introducing amendments thereto and cancellation thereof shall be determined by the Commission.

 

Technical regulations of the Union or national mandatory requirements shall only apply to products included in the common list approved by the Commission.

 

The procedure for establishing and maintaining the common list shall be approved by the Commission.

 

In their legislation the Member States shall not allow the determination of any mandatory requirements to products not included in the common list.

 

           Technical regulations of the Union shall have direct effect on the territory of the Union.

 

 

 

Introduction procedures for the adopted technical regulations of the Union and transitional provisions shall be determined by technical regulations of the Union and|or acts of the Commission.

 

3. In order to meet the requirements of the technical regulations of the Union and assess the conformity with its technical regulations, international, regional (interstate) standards may be applied on a voluntary basis and, in their absence (prior to the adoption of regional (interstate) standards), national (state) standards of the Member States may apply.

 

Article 53

 

Circulation of Products and Validity of Technical Regulations of the Union

 

 

           All products released into circulation on the territory of the Union shall be safe.

 

The rules and procedures for ensuring the safety and circulation of products the requirements for which are not determined by the technical regulations of the Union shall be determined under an international treaty within the Union.

 

           Products subject to valid technical regulations of the Union shall be released for circulation on the territory of the Union provided that they have completed the required conformity assessment procedures as determined by the technical regulations of the Union.

 

The Member States shall ensure the circulation of products conforming to the requirements of the technical regulations of the Union on its territory without introduction of any additional requirements to such products in excess of those set out in the technical regulations of the Union and without any additional conformity assessment procedures.

 

 

 

The provisions of the second indent of this paragraph shall not apply to sanitary, veterinary-sanitary and phytosanitary quarantine measures.

 

           Starting from the date of entry into force of the technical regulations of the Union on the territories of the Member States, respective mandatory requirements to products or products and product-related requirements to design (including research), manufacturing, construction, installation, commissioning, operation, storage, transportation, sale and disposal, as determined by the legislation of the Member States or acts of the Commission, shall be effective only to the extent specified in the transitional provisions and shall become invalid upon expiration of the transitional provisions of the technical regulations of the Union and|or acts of the Commission, shall not apply to the release of products for circulation, conformity assessment to technical regulations, state control (supervision) over the observance of the technical regulations of the Union.

 

The provisions in the first indent of this paragraph shall not apply to sanitary, veterinary-sanitary and phytosanitary quarantine measures.

 

Mandatory requirements to products or products and product-related requirements to design (including research), manufacture, construction, installation, commissioning, operation, storage, transportation, sale and disposal, as determined by acts of the Commission before the effective date of the technical regulations of the Union, shall be included in the technical regulations of the Union.

 

           State control (supervision) over the observance of the technical regulations of the Union shall be carried out in accordance with the procedure determined by the legislation of the Member States.

 

 

 

Principles and approaches to the harmonisation of the legislation of the Member States in the sphere of state control (supervision) over the observance of the technical regulations of the Union shall be determined under an international treaty within the Union.

 

5. Liability for failure to comply with the technical regulations of the Union, as well as for any violation of conformity assessment procedures with regard to the technical regulations of the Union, shall be determined in accordance with the legislation of the Member States.

 

Article 54

 

Accreditation

 

1. Accreditation within the Union shall be carried out in accordance with the following principles:

 

           harmonisation of rules and approaches in the field of accreditation with international standards;

 

           ensuring voluntary accreditation, transparency and accessibility of information on accreditation procedures, rules and results;

 

           ensuring objectivity, impartiality and jurisdiction of accreditation authorities of the Member States;

 

           ensuring equal accreditation conditions for all applicants and confidentiality of information obtained during the accreditation;

 

           inadmissibility for a single authority of a Member State to combine the accreditation powers with the powers of state control (supervision), with the exception of monitoring the activities of accredited conformity assessment authorities of the Member States (including certification authorities, testing laboratories (centres));

 

 

 

6) inadmissibility for a single authority of a Member State to combine the accreditation and conformity assessment powers.

 

             Accreditation of conformity assessment authorities shall be carried out by accreditation authorities of the Member States duly authorised under the legislation of the Member States to conduct these activities.

 

             An accreditation authority of a Member State shall not compete with accreditation authorities of other Member States.

 

In order to prevent competition between accreditation authorities of the Member States, a conformity assessment authority of a Member State shall apply for accreditation to the accreditation authority of the Member State on the territory of which it is registered as a juridical person.

 

When a conformity assessment authority registered as a juridical person on the territory of another Member State applies to the accreditation authority of a Member State for the purpose of accreditation, this accreditation authority shall inform the accreditation authority of the Member State on the territory of which the conformity assessment authority is registered. In this case it shall be allowed for the accreditation to be conducted by accreditation authorities of other Member States, if the accreditation authority of the Member State on the territory of which this conformity assessment authority is registered does not carry out accreditation in the required field. In this connection, the accreditation authority of the Member State on the territory of which this conformity assessment authority is registered shall be entitled to participate as an observer.

 

             Accreditation authorities of the Member States shall perform mutual comparative assessments in order to achieve equivalence of all procedures applied.

 

 

 

Results of accreditation of the conformity assessment authorities of the Member States shall be recognised in accordance with Annex 11 to this Treaty.

 

Article 55

 

Elimination of Technical Barriers in Mutual Trade with Third Countries

 

Procedure and conditions for the elimination of technical barriers in mutual trade with third countries shall be determined under an international treaty within the Union.