Directive 97/23/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 May 1997 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning pressure equipment

• Published date: 01 January 2013
• Subject Matter: Internal market - Principles,Approximation of laws,Technical barriers
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Communities, L 181, 9 July 1997

1997L0023 — EN — 01.06.2015 — 003.001

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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 97/23/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 29 May 1997 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning pressure equipment (OJ L 181 9.7.1997, p. 1)

Amended by:

		Official Journal
		No	page	date
►M1	REGULATION (EC) No 1882/2003 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 29 September 2003	L 284	1	31.10.2003
►M2	REGULATION (EU) No 1025/2012 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 25 October 2012	L 316	12	14.11.2012
►M3	DIRECTIVE 2014/68/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL Text with EEA relevance of 15 May 2014	L 189	164	27.6.2014

Corrected by:

►C1	Corrigendum, OJ L 265, 27.9.1997, p. 110 (1997/23)
►C2	Corrigendum, OJ L 093, 7.4.2011, p. 38 (1997/23)

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▼B

DIRECTIVE 97/23/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 29 May 1997

on the approximation of the laws of the Member States concerning pressure equipment

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 100a thereof,

Having regard to the proposals from the Commission ( 1 ),

Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee ( 2 ),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189b of the Treaty ( 3 ), in the light of the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee on 4 February 1997,

1. Whereas the internal market is an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured;

2. Whereas there are differences in the content and scope of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions in force in the Member States with regard to the safety and protection of health of persons and, where appropriate, domestic animals or property, where pressure equipment not covered by present Community legislation is concerned; whereas the certification and inspection procedures for such equipment differ from one Member State to another; whereas such disparities may well constitute barriers to trade within the Community;

3. Whereas the harmonization of national legislation is the only means of removing these barriers to free trade; whereas this objective cannot be achieved satisfactorily by the individual Member States; whereas this Directive only lays down indispensable requirements for the free circulation of the equipment to which it is applicable;

4. Whereas equipment subject to a pressure of not more than 0,5 bar does not pose a significant hazard due to pressure; whereas there should not therefore be any obstacle to its free movement within the Community; whereas this Directive applies to equipment subject to a maximum allowable pressure PS exceeding 0,5 bar;

5. Whereas this Directive relates also to assemblies composed of several pieces of pressure equipment assembled to constitute an integrated and functional whole; whereas these assemblies may range from simple assemblies such as pressure cookers to complex assemblies such as watertube boilers; whereas, if the manufacturer of an assembly intends it to be placed on the market and put into service as an assembly — and not in the form of its constituent non-assembled elements — that assembly must conform to this Directive; whereas, on the other hand, this Directive does not cover the assembly of pressure equipment on the site and under the responsibility of the user, as in the case of industrial installations;

6. Whereas this Directive harmonizes national provisions on hazards due to pressure; whereas the other hazards which this equipment may present accordingly may fall within the scope of other Directives dealing with such hazards; whereas, however, pressure equipment may be included among products covered by other Directives based on Article 100a of the Treaty; whereas the provisions laid down in some of those Directives deal with the hazard due to pressure; whereas those provisions are considered adequate to provide appropriate protection where the hazard due to pressure associated with such equipment remains small; whereas, therefore, there are grounds for excluding such equipment from the scope of this Directive;

7. Whereas, for pressure equipment covered by international Conventions, transport and pressure hazards are due to be dealt with as soon as possible by forthcoming Community Directives based on such Conventions or by supplements to existing Directives; whereas such equipment is accordingly excluded from the scope of this Directive;

8. Whereas certain types of pressure equipment, although subject to a maximum allowable pressure PS higher than 0,5 bar, do not present any significant hazard due to pressure, and therefore the freedom of movement of such equipment in the Community should not be hindered if it has been legally manufactured or placed on the market in a Member State; whereas it is not necessary in order to ensure free movement of such equipment to include it in the scope of this Directive; whereas consequently it is expressly excluded from its scope;

9. Whereas other pressure equipment subject to a maximum allowable pressure higher than 0,5 bar and presenting a significant hazard due to pressure, but in respect of which free movement and an appropriate level of safety are guaranteed, is excluded from the scope of this Directive; whereas such exclusions should, however, be regularly reviewed in order to ascertain whether it is necessary to take action at Union level;

10. Whereas regulations to remove technical barriers to trade must follow the new approach provided for in the Council Resolution of 7 May 1985 on a new approach to technical harmonization and standards ( 4 ), which requires a definition of the essential requirements regarding safety and other requirements of society without reducing existing, justified levels of protection within the Member States; whereas that Resolution provides that a very large number of products be covered by a single Directive in order to avoid frequent amendments and the proliferation of Directives;

11. Whereas the existing Community Directives on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to pressure equipment have made positive steps towards removing barriers to trade in this area; whereas those Directives cover that sector only to a minor extent; whereas Council Directive 87/404/EEC of 25 June 1987 on the harmonization of the laws of the Member States relating to simple pressure vessels ( 5 ) is the first case of application of the new approach to the sector of pressure equipment; whereas the present Directive will not apply to the area covered by Directive 87/404/EEC; whereas, no later than three years after the present Directive enters into force, a review will be carried out of the application of Directive 87/404/EEC in order to ascertain the need for the integration thereof into the present Directive;

12. Whereas the framework Directive, Council Directive 76/767/EEC of 27 July 1976 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to common provisions for pressure vessels and methods for inspecting them ( 6 ) is optional; whereas it provides for a procedure for the bilateral recognition of testing and certification of pressure equipment which did not operate satisfactorily and which therefore must be replaced by effective Community measures;

13. Whereas the scope of this Directive must be based on a general definition of the term ‘pressure equipment’ so as to allow for the technical development of products;

14. Whereas compliance with the essential safety requirements is necessary in order to ensure the safety of pressure equipment; whereas those requirements have been subdivided into general and specific requirements which must be met by pressure equipment; whereas in particular the specific requirements are intended to take account of particular types of pressure equipment; whereas certain types of pressure equipment in categories III and IV must be subject to a final assessment comprising final inspection and proof tests;

15. Whereas Member States should be in a position to allow the showing at trade fairs of pressure equipment which is not yet in conformity with the requirements of this Directive; whereas, during demonstrations, appropriate safety measures must be taken in accordance with the general safety rules of the Member State concerned to ensure the safety of persons;

16. Whereas in order to ease the task of demonstrating compliance with the essential requirements, standards harmonized at European level are useful, especially with regard to the design, manufacture and testing of pressure equipment, compliance with which enables a product to be presumed to meet the said essential requirements; whereas standards harmonized at European level are drawn up by private bodies and must retain their non-mandatory status; whereas, for this purpose, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (Cenelec) are recognized as being the bodies that are competent to adopt harmonized standards that follow the general guidelines for cooperation between the Commission and those two bodies signed on 13 November 1984;

17. Whereas, for the purposes of this Directive, a harmonized standard is a technical specification (European standard or harmonization document) adopted by one or other of those bodies, or by

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