Industrial
policy
The removal of technical barriers to trade is a precondition for the
completion of the internal market. Since the adoption of
the
new approach to technical harmonisation and standardisation in 1985,
the harmonisation of European industrial standards in the 16 areas covered
by European technical legislation has become an essential instrument for
the achievement of this objective. This approach was subsequently complemented
by a coherent policy on certification and tests, setting out clear, consistent
and transparent principles, which apply to the product certification procedures
to be used at Community level. The objective is to help establish a European
policy on quality in co-operation with national and international
standardisation
bodies to enable businesses to manufacture and sell their products throughout
the Community with the aid of a system for the mutual recognition of trade
marks and manufacturing processes.
Some main areas of current regulatory and legislative activities
in the field have important implications for people with disabilities:
- The Commission has mandated the CEN in co-operation with the CENELEC to develop harmonised standards in order to implement the Directive on Medical Devices. The CEN Technical Committee TC 293 (Standardisation of Technical Aids for Persons with Disabilities) has prepared a first set of standards for products groups such as wheelchairs, walking aids, beds, hoists for persons) which will in the future replace all equivalent national standards. Other standards are in the preparatory or developing stage like for prostheses or communication aids.
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In the frame of the European Information Society Standardisation policy,
the Commission has also assigned a standardisation mandate to the European
standardisation organisations, CEN, CENELEC and ETSI, inviting them to identify
the specific needs for standardisation in support of a better integration
of elderly and disabled people in the Information Society; to subsequently
prepare the related standardisation work programme and to execute the tasks
described. The standardisation organisations are requested to consult interested
market players, consumer organisations as well as relevant associations
representing elderly and disabled people. The Mandate emphasises the need
to further develop the " Design for all " approach while developing new services
and products as well as the " assistive technology " approach when required.
ICTSB, the co-ordinating committee of the European standards and specification
producing organisations, has assigned the lead responsibility for the project
to CEN/ISSS. The report reflecting the standardisation needs as well as the
related standardisation programme will be prepared by a Project team and
subsequently submitted to an open consultation process in order to gain broad
support for the activities. In order to implement the Mandate, financial
support is foreseen for the work of the project team, for the secretariat
support given by CEN/ISSS to the related tasks as well as for the organisation
of the open consultation In a subsequent phase, upon consultation of the
Member States on the further execution of the work programme, additional
funding can be considered for the execution of the specific tasks.
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To remedy to hindrances to establishment and functioning of the internal
market in the construction sector, the Commission has harmonised the relevant
technical specifications and provisions. Specifically:
- For safety measures in hotels: given that many hotels are older buildings and because of the number of persons at risk, a minimum level of safety needs to be guaranteed. A recommendation on this subject has been sent to the Member States;
- Construction products: the Directive on the free movement of construction products, based on the new approach to technical harmonisation, aims at laying down essential requirements relating mainly to safety and health.
- The European Parliament and Council Directive 95/16/EC set up basic principles relating to the safety of new lifts. Safety is one aspect of this matter. Equally important is the problem of taking into account the needs of people with disabilities for whom lift represents a particularly important way for independent living. Elevators for disabled people must conform certain basic conditions and must be designed and located accordingly. Furthermore, the Commission recommendation of 8 June 1995 concerning the improvement of safety of existing lifts recommends inter alia that the member States take all necessary action to make the controls in both the cars and lift wells intelligible and usable by unaccompanied disabled persons.
- The Commission has adopted a proposal for a Directive, relating to special provisions for vehicles used for the carriage of passengers comprising more than eight seats in addition to the driver’s seat (buses and coaches). The Commission considers it realistic to require that passenger-carrying vehicles designed to provide urban and interurban services should be accessible for people with reduced mobility. The draft directive establishes technical prescriptions for accessible vehicles to be used for urban passenger transport, acknowledging the requirement to extend accessibility to interurban transport vehicles. A specific study with regard to the latter will take place in the near future.
