Directive 2009/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 relating to simple pressure vessels (codified version) (Text with EEA relevance)

• Published date: 01 January 2013
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Union, L 264, 08 October 2009

2009L0105 — EN — 01.01.2013 — 001.001

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This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents

►B DIRECTIVE 2009/105/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 September 2009 relating to simple pressure vessels (codified version) (Text with EEA relevance) (OJ L 264, 8.10.2009, p.12)

Amended by:

		Official Journal
		No	page	date
►M1	REGULATION (EU) No 1025/2012 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 25 October 2012	L 316	12	14.11.2012

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▼B

DIRECTIVE 2009/105/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 16 September 2009

relating to simple pressure vessels

(codified version)

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 95 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee ( 1 ),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty ( 2 ),

Whereas:

(1) Council Directive 87/404/EEC of 25 June 1987 on the harmonization of the laws of the Member States relating to simple pressure vessels ( 3 ) has been substantially amended several times ( 4 ). In the interests of clarity and rationality the said Directive should be codified.

(2) Member States have the responsibility of ensuring the safety on their territory of persons, domestic animals and property with regard to the hazards resulting from the leakage or bursting of simple pressure vessels.

(3) In each Member State, mandatory provisions define in particular the safety level required of simple pressure vessels by specifying design and operating characteristics, conditions of installation and use and inspection procedures before and after the placing on the market. These mandatory provisions do not necessarily lead to different safety levels from one Member State to another but do, by their disparity, hinder trade within the Community.

(4) This Directive should therefore contain only mandatory and essential requirements. To facilitate proof of conformity with the essential requirements, it is necessary to have harmonised standards at Community level, in particular as to the design, operation and installation of simple pressure vessels, so that products complying with them may be assumed to conform to the safety requirements. These standards harmonised at Community level are drawn up by private bodies and should remain non-mandatory texts. For that purpose, the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (Cenelec) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) are recognised as the competent bodies for the adoption of harmonised standards in accordance with the general guidelines ( 5 ) for cooperation between the Commission, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and those three bodies signed on 28 March 2003.

(5) The Council has already adopted a series of Directives designed to remove technical barriers to trade in accordance with the principles established in its Resolution of 7 May 1985 on a new approach to technical harmonisation and standards ( 6 ); each of those Directives provides for the affixing of the ‘CE’ marking. The Commission, in its Communication of 15 June 1989 on a global approach to certification and testing ( 7 ), proposed that common rules be drawn up concerning a ‘CE’ marking with a single design. The Council, in its Resolution of 21 December 1989 on a global approach to conformity assessment ( 8 ), approved as a guiding principle the adoption of a consistent approach such as this with regard to the use of the ‘CE’ marking. The two basic elements of the new approach which should be applied are the essential requirements and the conformity assessment procedures.

(6) A check on compliance with the relevant technical requirements is necessary in order to provide effective protection for users and third parties. The existing inspection procedures differ from one Member State to another. In order to avoid multiple inspections, which are in effect barriers to the free movement of vessels, arrangements should be made for the mutual recognition of inspection procedures by the Member States. In order to facilitate the mutual recognition of inspection procedures, Community procedures should be established as well as the criteria for appointing the bodies responsible for carrying out tests, surveillance and verification.

(7) The presence on a simple pressure vessel of the ‘CE’ marking should raise a presumption that it satisfies the provisions of this Directive and should therefore make it unnecessary, upon the importation and putting into service of the vessel, to repeat the inspections already carried out. Nevertheless simple pressure vessels might represent a safety hazard. Provision should therefore be made for a procedure to reduce this hazard.

(8) This Directive should be without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States relating to the time limits for transposition into national law and application of the Directives set out in Annex IV, Part B,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

CHAPTER I

SCOPE, DEFINITIONS, PLACING ON THE MARKET AND FREE MOVEMENT

Article 1

1. This Directive applies to simple pressure vessels manufactured in series.

2. The following vessels shall be excluded from the scope of this Directive:

(a) vessels specifically designed for nuclear use, failure of which may cause an emission of radioactivity;

(b) vessels specifically intended for installation in or the propulsion of ships and aircraft;

(c) fire extinguishers.

3. For the purposes of this Directive the following definitions shall apply:

(a) ‘simple pressure vessel’ or ‘vessel’ means any welded vessel subjected to an internal gauge pressure greater than 0,5 bar which is intended to contain air or nitrogen and which is not intended to be fired.

The parts and assemblies contributing to the strength of the vessel under pressure shall be made either of non-alloy quality steel or of non-alloy aluminium or non-age hardening aluminium alloys.

The vessel shall be made of either:

(i) a cylindrical part of circular cross-section closed by inwardly dished and/or flat ends which revolve around the same axis as the cylindrical part; or

(ii) two dished ends revolving around the same axis.

The maximum working pressure of the vessel shall not exceed 30 bar and the product of that pressure and the capacity of the vessel (PS x V) shall not exceed 10 000 bar.l.

The minimum working temperature must be no lower than – 50 °C and the maximum working temperature must not be higher than 300 °C for steel and 100 °C for aluminium or aluminium alloy vessels;

(b) a ‘harmonised standard’ means a technical specification (European standard or harmonisation document) adopted by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (Cenelec) or the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) or by two or three of those bodies upon a remit from the Commission in accordance with Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations and of rules on Information Society services ( 9 ) and the general guidelines for cooperation between the Commission, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and those three bodies signed on 28 March 2003.

Article 2

1. Member States shall take all necessary steps to ensure that the vessels may be placed on the market and put into service only if they do not compromise the safety of persons, domestic animals or property when properly installed and maintained and used for the purposes for which they are intended.

2. The provisions of this Directive shall not affect the right of Member States to specify — with due observance of the Treaty — the requirements they deem necessary in order to ensure that workers are protected when using vessels, provided it does not mean that those vessels are modified in a way unspecified in this Directive.

Article 3

1. Vessels in respect of which the product of PS x V exceeds 50 bar.l must satisfy the essential safety requirements set out in Annex I.

2. Vessels in respect of which the product of PS x V is 50 bar.l or less must be manufactured in accordance with sound engineering practice in one of the Member States and bear markings as laid down in point 1 of Annex II, with the exception of the ‘CE’ marking referred to in Article 16.

Article 4

Member States shall not impede the placing on the market and the putting into service in their territory of vessels which satisfy the requirements of this Directive.

Article 5

1. Member States shall presume that vessels bearing the ‘CE’ marking comply with all the provisions of this Directive.

Conformity of vessels with the national standards which transpose the harmonised standards, the reference numbers of which have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, shall result in a presumption of conformity to the essential safety requirements set out in Annex I.

Member States shall publish the reference numbers of such national standards.

2. Member States shall presume that vessels for which the standards referred to in the second subparagraph of paragraph 1 do not exist or in respect of which the manufacturer has not applied or has only partially applied such standards, comply with the essential safety requirements set out in Annex I, where, after receipt of an EC...