The Commission is required to select, in accordance with Article 13(3) of Directive 89/106/EEC, one of two procedures for attesting the conformity of a product. That Article prescribes that the Commission should choose the least onerous possible procedure consistent with safety. It is therefore necessary to decide whether, for a given product or family of products, the existence of a factory production control system under the responsibility of the manufacturer is a necessary and sufficient condition for an attestation of conformity, or whether, for reasons related to compliance with the criteria set out in Article 13(4) of that Directive, the intervention of an approved body is required.

Article 13(4) requires that the procedure thus determined shall be indicated in the mandates and in the technical specifications. It is therefore desirable to identify the products or family of products referred to in the technical specifications.

The two procedures provided for in Article 13(3) of Directive 89/106/EEC are described in detail in Annex III to that Directive. It is therefore necessary to specify clearly the methods by which the two procedures shall be implemented, by reference to Annex III, for each product or family of products, since Annex III gives preference to certain systems.

The procedure referred to in Article 13(3)(a) corresponds to the systems set out in the first possibility, without continuous surveillance, and the second and third possibilities of point (ii) of Section 2 of Annex III. The procedure referred to in Article 13(3)(b) corresponds to the systems set out in point (i) of Section 2 of Annex III, and in the first possibility, with continuous surveillance, of point (ii) of Section 2 of Annex III,