Agreement on the European Economic Area

XIX. GENERAL PROVISIONS IN THE FIELD OF TECHNICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE

ACTS REFERRED TO

1. 383 L 0189: Council Directive 83/189/EEC of 28 March 1983 laying down a procedure for the provisions of information in the field of technical standards and regulations (OJ No L 109, 26.4.1983, p. 8), as amended by:

• 1 85 I: Act concerning the Conditions of Accession and the Adjustments to the Treaties - Accession to the European Communities of the Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic (OJ No L 302, 15.11.1985, p. 214),

• 388 L 0182: Council Directive 88/182/EEC of 22 March 1988 (OJ No L 81, 26.3.1988, p. 75),

The provisions of the Directive shall, for the purposes of the present Agreement, be read with the following adaptations:

(a)

Article 1(7) is replaced by the following:

‘7. “product”, any industrially manufactured product and any agricultural product, including fish products’;

(b)

The following shall be added to the end of the first subparagraph of Article 8(1):

‘A full text of the draft technical regulation notified shall be made available in the original language as well as in a full translation into one of the official languages of the European Community.’;

(c)

The following shall be added to the second subparagraph of Article 8(1):

‘The Community, on the one side, and the EFTA Surveillance Authority or the EFTA States through the EFTA Surveillance Authority, on the other side, may ask for further information on a draft technical regulation notified.’;

(d)

The following shall be added to Article 8(2):

‘The comments of the EFTA States shall be forwarded by the EFTA Surveillance Authority to the EC Commission in the form of a single coordinated communication and the comments of the Community shall be forwarded by the Commission to the EFTA Surveillance Authority. The Contracting Parties shall, when a six-month standstill is invoked according to the rules of their respective internal systems, inform each other thereof in a similar manner.’;

(e)

The first subparagraph of Article 8(4) shall be replaced by the following:

‘The information supplied under this Article shall be considered as confidential upon request.’;

(f)

Article 9 shall be replaced by the following:

‘The competent authorities of the EC Member States and the EFTA States shall postpone the adoption of draft technical regulations notified for three months from the date of receipt of the text of the draft regulation

• by the EC Commission in case of drafts notified by Member States of the Community,

• by the EFTA Surveillance Authority for drafts notified by the EFTA States.

However, this standstill period of three months shall not apply in those cases where, for urgent reasons relating to the protection of public health or safety, the protection of health and life of animal or plants, the competent authorities are obliged to prepare technical regulations in a very short space of time in order to enact and introduce them immediately without any consultations being possible. The reasons which warrant the urgency of the measures taken shall be given. The justification for urgent measures shall be detailed and clearly explained with particular emphasis on the unpredictability and the seriousness of the danger confronting the concerned authorities as well as the absolute necessity for immediate action to remedy it.’;

(g)

The following shall be added to list I of the Annex:

‘ON (Austria)

Österreichisches Normungsinstitut

Heinestrasse 38

A-1020 Wien

ÖVE (Austria)

Österreichischer Verband für Elektrotechnik

Eschenbachgasse 9

A-1010 Wien

SFS (Finland)

Suomen Standardisoimisliitto SFS r.y.

PL 205

SF-00121 Helsinki

SESKO (Finland)

Suomen Sähköteknillinen Standardisoimisyhdistys Sesko r.y.

Sarkiniementie 3

SF-00210 Helsinki

STRI (Iceland)

Staðlaráð Islands

Keldnaholti

IS-112 Reykjavík

SNV (Liechtenstein)

Schweizerische Normen-Vereinigung

Kirchenweg 4

Postfach

CH-8032 Zurich

NSF (Norway)

Norges Standardiseringsforbund

Pb 7020 Homansbyen

N-0306 Oslo 3

NEK (Norway)

Norsk Elektroteknisk Komite

Pb 280 Skøyen

N-0212 Oslo 2

SIS (Sweden)

Standardiseringskommissionen i Sverige

Box 3295

S-103 66 Stockholm

SEK (Sweden)

Svenska Elektriska Kommissionen

Box 1284

S-164 28 Kista

SNV (Switzerland)

Schweizerische Normen-Vereinigung

Kirchenweg 4

Postfach

CH-8032 Zurich

SEK (Switzerland)

Schweizerisches Elektrotechnisches Komitee

Postfach

CH-8034 Zurich’;

(h)

for the application of the Directive, the following communications by electronic means are considered necessary:

(1)

notification slips. They may be communicated before or together with the transmission of the full text;

(2)

acknowledgement of receipt of draft text, containing inter alia, the relevant expiry date of the standstill determined according to the rules of each system;

(3)

messages requesting supplementary information;

(4)

answers to requests for supplementary information;

(5)

comments;

(6)

requests for ad boc meetings;

(7)

answers to requests for ad boc meetings;

(8)

requests for final texts;

(9)

information that a six-month standstill has been called;

the following communications may, for the time being, be transmitted by normal mail;

(10)

the full text of the draft notified;

(11)

basic legal texts or regulatory provisions;

(12)

the final text;

(i)

Administrative arrangements concerning the communications shall be jointly agreed by the Contracting Parties.

2. 389 D 0045: Council Decision 89/45/EEC of 21 December 1988 on a Community system for the rapid exchange of information on dangers arising from the use of consumer products (OJ No L 17, 21.1.1989, p. 51), as amended by:

• 390 D 0352: Council Decision 90/352/EEC of 29 June 1990 (OJ No L 173, 6,7,1990, p. 49).

The provisions of the Decision shall, for the purposes of the present Agreement, be read with the following adaptation:

the entity designated by the EFTA States shall immediately communicate to the EC Commission the information it sends to the EFTA States or their competent authorities. The EC Commission shall immediately communicate to the entity designated by the EFTA States the information it sends to the EC Member States or their competent authorities.

3. 390 D 0683: Council Decision 90/683/EEC of 13 December 1990 concerning the modules for the various phases of the conformity assessment procedures which are intended to be used in the technical harmonization directives (OJ No L 380, 21.12.1990, p. 13).

ACTS OF WHICH THE CONTRACTING PARTIES SHALL TAKE NOTE

The Contracting Parties take note of the content of the following acts:

4. C/136/85/p. 2: Conclusions on standardization, approved by the Council on 16 July 1984 (OJ No C 136, 4.6.1985, p. 2).

5. 385 Y 0604(01): Council Resolution 85/C 136/01 of 7 May 1985 on a new approach to technical harmonization and standards (OJ No C 136, 4.6.1985, p. 1).

6. 386 Y 1001(01): Commission Communication concerning the non-respect of certain provisions of Council Directive 83/189/EEC of 28 March laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations (OJ No C 245, 1.10.1986, p. 4).

7. C/67/89/p. 3: Commission Communication concerning the publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities of the titles of draft technical regulations notified by the Member States pursuant to Council Directive 83/189/EEC, as amended by Council Directive 88/182/EEC (OJ No C 67, 17.3.1989, p. 3).

8. 390 Y 0116(01): Council Resolution of 21 December 1989 on a global approach to conformity assessment (OJ No C 10, 16.1.90, p. 1).

9. 590 DC 0456: Commission Green Paper on the development of European Standardization: action for faster technological integration in Europe (OJ No C 20, 28.1.1991, p. 1).