Guide to application of the Lifts Directive 95/16/EC - Chapter IV

§ 78 Motivation of decisions and legal remedies

Article 11 defines the conditions to be respected by Member States when they take measures to deal with products that do not comply with the requirements of the Lifts Directive according to Article 7. The duty for the Member States to notify such measures to the party concerned, to state the grounds on which they are based and to provide information about the legal remedies available corresponds to good administrative practice and is subject to legal provisions in many Member States.

It is important to note that the legal remedies that may be available under national law to installers or manufacturers whose products are subject to restrictive measures and the procedure set out in Article 7 of the Directive are independent of each other. However a national Court may choose to take into account the Commission's opinion on whether or not the national measure is justified when considering an appeal from an installer or manufacturer against a national measure.

§ 79 Information sources

Several kinds of information relevant to implementation of the Lifts Directive are made available to the Member States and other stakeholders by the Commission on the lifts pages of the Commission DG Enterprise and Industry Website EUROPA.

• Harmonised Standards

A consolidated list of the references of harmonised standards for lifts is published by the Commission in the Official Journal of the European Union. The list of harmonised standards is also available on EUROPA.

• Notified Bodies

A list of the conformity assessment bodies notified by the Member States for lifts and lift safety components is published periodically in the Official Journal of the European Union. However, since new or modified notifications may be communicated to the Commission at any time, it is useful to consult the most recently updated list which is available from the Commission online information system NANDO.

• Recommendations of NB-L

The Recommendations for Use [2 MB] adopted by the European coordination of Notified Bodies for Lifts, NB-L that have been endorsed by the Lifts Working Group are published on EUROPA.

• Opinions adopted by the Lifts Committee and the Lifts Working Group

The opinions adopted by the Lifts Committee and certain documents approved by the Lifts Working Group concerning issues of interpretation and practical application of the Lifts Directive are available on EUROPA. In future, such opinions will provide the basis for updating this Guide.

• Working documents submitted to the Lifts Working Group

Working documents for the meetings of the Lifts Working Group are circulated to members of the Group on the Lifts Directive section of the Commission database CIRCA. Organisations representing lifts installers and lifts manufacturers, standardisation organisations, Notified Bodies, trades unions and consumer bodies at European level have access to these documents. Other stakeholders can request the documents from their respective representative organisations. Care should be taken not to take draft working documents or discussion papers as representing the opinion of the Commission or the Lifts Working Group.

• Commission opinions on safeguard clauses

The opinions adopted by the European Commission on the national measures adopted according to Article 7 of the Directive are notified to the Member States via their Permanent Representation to the European Union. They are also made available to the national market surveillance authorities on the Lifts ADCO section of the Commission database CIRCA. The text of such opinions can also be communicated by the Commission on request in accordance with Article 255 of the EC Treaty implemented by Regulation 1049/2001/EC[1] on access to Commission documents.

• Commission decisions on formal objections to harmonised standards

The decisions adopted by the Commission following formal objections to harmonised standards according to the procedure set out in Article 6(1) are published in the OJEU.

§ 80 Repeal of superseded Directives

The Lifts Directive 95/16/EC repealed and replaced Directives 84/528/EEC relating to common provisions for lifting and mechanical handling appliances and Directive 84/529/EEC concerning electrically operated lifts as well as its amending Directives, in particular, Council Directive 90/486/EEC extending the scope of Directive 84/529/EEC to include hydraulically operated lifts. The repeal was effective from 1st July 1999, that is to say, the date when the provisions of the Lifts Directive 95/16/EC became mandatory.

§ 81 The Lifts Directive and the Construction products Directive

Article 14 defines the relationship between the Lifts Directive 95/16/EC and the Construction Products Directive 89/106/EEC .

Lifts correspond to the definition of a "construction product" given in Article 1(2) of the Construction Products Directive, that is to say:

"any product which is produced for incorporation in a permanent manner in construction works, including both buildings and civil engineering works."

However, Article 2(3) of the Construction Products Directive states:

"When a future directive concerns mainly other aspects and only to a minor extent the essential requirements of this Directive, that subsequent directive shall contain provisions ensuring that it also covers the requirements of this Directive."

The purpose of this provision is to limit the number of Directives applying to the same product.

Article 14 of the Lifts Directive identifies Directive 95/16/EC as a "subsequent directive" in the sense of Article 2(3) of the Construction Products Directive. Recital 10 to the Lifts Directive indicates that the Directive is designed to cover all risks caused by lifts and run by their users and by the occupants of the construction. This implies that the essential requirements of the Lifts Directive should cover all the relevant requirements of the Construction Products Directive.

In particular, the requirements expressed in section 2 of Annex I of that Directive relating to safety in case of fire are covered by specific requirements in sections 4.2, 4.6 and 4.10 of Annex I to the Lifts Directive. Furthermore, the essential requirement expressed in section 4 of Annex I to the Construction Products Directive relating to safety in use is covered in detail by a number of sections of Annex I to the Lifts Directive. There is therefore no need to have further regard for Directive 89/106/EEC with respect to these aspects.

§ 82 Implementation of the Directive

The regulations and provisions that need to be adopted by the Member States according to Article 15(1) include the following:

• implementing into national law the obligations set out in the Directive for lift installers and manufacturers of safety components and the setting of effective and proportionate penalties for infractions;
• designating the authorities responsible for market surveillance of lifts and lift safety components;
• establishing the procedure for the evaluation, appointment and notification of the Notified Bodies and ensuring the supervision of their activity;
• publishing the references of national standards transposing harmonised standards according to Article 5(2); taking measures to enable both sides of industry to have an influence at national level on the process of preparing and monitoring the harmonised standards according to Article 5(3);
• taking the measures described in Article 2(2) of the Directive to ensure the necessary cooperation between lift installers and persons responsible for work on the building or construction; taking the measures to prevent the installation of equipment other than that required for safe operation of the lift in the lift shaft as required by Article 2(3);
• establishing the procedure for giving prior authorisation for derogations to the essential safety requirement of section 2.2 of Annex I relating to the prevention of the risk of crushing when the car is in one of its extreme positions;

Article 15(1) gave Member States a period of eighteen months to implement these provisions which have been applicable from 1st July 1997.

However, in order to allow time for the lifts industry, the standardisation organisations and the Notified Bodies to adapt to the provisions of the Lifts Directive, Article 15(2) established a two-year transition period following the date of application. During this period, the provisions of the Directive could be applied by lift installers or safety components manufacturers who so wished, but the previous national regulations remained applicable. The provisions of the Directive became mandatory from 1st July 1999.

For the ten countries that joined the EU on the 1st May 2005, the provisions of the Lifts Directive came into force on that date. For the two countries that joined the EU on 1st January 2007, the provisions of the Lifts Directive came into force on that date.

§ 83 Review of the Lifts Directive

Article 16 requires the Commission to carry out a review of application of the Lifts Directive following an initial period of application. The process was started in 2002 on the basis of reports from Member States and contributions from several stakeholders that were discussed by the Lifts Working Group.

In 2003/4 an evaluation study was carried out for the Commission by an independent body. The study report presents figures relating to the lifts market in the EU 15, the views of stakeholders at European level and in a sample of 7 Member States as well as the results of visits to a sample of lift installations in each country. The findings of the study indicate that the Lifts Directive is generally well applied, but certain problem areas are highlighted and possible solutions are outlined.

An amendment of the Lifts Directive is included in the revised Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. The purpose of this amendment is to clarify the borderline between the scope of the Lifts Directive and the Machinery Directive. This amendment of the Lifts Directive will be applicable from 29th December 2009 - see comments on Article 1(2) and section 1.2 of Annex I.

The Commission is continuing to examine the appropriate solutions to the issues raised by the evaluation study. In particular, the outcome of the current horizontal review of the "New Approach" will be taken into consideration before any further amendment of the Lifts Directive is envisaged.

§ 84 Addresses of the Directive

The Directive is addressed to Member States since it is the regulations and provisions implementing the provisions of the Directive into national law that make them legally binding.

[1] Regulation 1049/2001/EC of 30 May 2001, OJ L 145 of 31/05/2001 p.43.