Introductory text

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,

Having regard to Directive 98/37/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to machinery^f1 and in particular Article 6(1) thereof,

Having regard to the opinion of the standing committee set up by Article 5 of 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^f2,

Whereas:

Where a national standard transposing a harmonised standard, the reference of which has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, covers one or more essential health and safety requirements set out in Annex I to Directive 98/37/EC, the machine built in accordance with this standard is presumed to meet the essential requirements concerned.

Pursuant to Article 6(1) of Directive 98/37/EC, Germany lodged a formal objection in respect of standard EN 13000:2004, adopted by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) on 22 April 2004, the reference of which has not yet been published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Having examined standard EN 13000:2004, the Commission has established that it fails to meet several essential health and safety requirements of Annex I to Directive 98/37/EC, namely requirement 4.2.1.4 (loading control) in conjunction with the requirements 1.1.2(c) (principles of safety integration), 1.2.5 (control mode selection), 1.3.1 (stability), 4.1.2.1 (risks due to lack of stability) and 4.1.2.3 (mechanical strength). Specifically, regarding clauses 4.2.6.3.1, 4.2.6.3.2 and 4.2.6.3.3 of the standard, the measures defined for designing and constructing mobile cranes do not guarantee a sufficiently high level of safety for the foreseeable use of the product. In particular, the standard does not specify adequate protective measures to prevent the misuse of the bridging device for the rated capacity limiter.

In the interest of safety and legal certainty, the publication in the Official Journal of the European Union of the reference of standard should therefore be accompanied by an appropriate warning.

Member States should add an identical warning in their national standards transposing standard EN 13000:2004,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: