Council Decision 768/2008/EC lays down that the Commission, in co-operation with the Member States, must ensure that close co-operation is organised between the Notified Bodies in order to ensure consistent technical application of the conformity assessment procedures set out in the Union Harmonisation Directives based on the "New Approach" and the "Global Approach".

For this purpose, the Bodies notified under a particular Directive or field must meet with each other to ensure co-ordination and establish consistent methods which will make certain that their conformity assessment activities are all based on the same agreed principles and produce comparable and reliable results.

Moreover, in order to ensure consistency between the various groups, the Commission can assemble and organise inter-sector groups, by inviting the Technical Secretariats and Chairpersons of the Co-ordinations of Notified Bodies either together or in restricted groups when specific subjects are discussed.

Experience to date in implementing New Approach Directives has shown that, in the interest of efficiency, the Coordination Chair for each group of Notified Bodies should be assisted both by a permanent Administrative Secretariat which provides logistical support for the groups’ work, and by a Technical Secretariat.

The purpose of this Invitation to tender is to designate the Technical Secretariat for the group of notified bodies established under the Personal Protective Equipment Directive 89/686/EEC (PPE Directive) for the next one to four years.

Important

Please note that since 01/01/2012, all tendering documents relating to DG Enterprise are published through a Commission wide unique platform called "eTendering", consequently the tendering documents will no longer be published here.

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