GEN – 1024.00. On a monthly basis, the Eurovent Team compiles a global overview of the latest developments concerning new standardisation activities and technical regulations of relevance for the HVACR industry. Our Notifications allow members to be prepared for developments that can have an impact on them and their products.

Standardisation

The application of the 2015/1535/EU (previously Directive 98/34/EC Directive) has also been extended to new standardisation work undertaken by National Standard Bodies (AENOR, AFNOR, DIN, UNI, etc.) at national level. These notifications are registered centrally by the CEN Management Centre. A ‘Monthly Notifications Register’ is circulated in English to CEN Members and the European Commission. The National Standard Body provides the relevant associations with a copy of these updates.

The April 2019 ‘Monthly Notifications Register’ included the following issues of relevance:

Country: Italy
National Ref: UNI1606036
Title: Non-regulated professions – Professionals in the field of quality management – Knowledge, skill and competence requirements
Scope: This standard specifies the requirements for the Professionals in the field of quality management. These requirements are expressed in terms of knowledge, skills and competence, in accordance with the European Qualifications Framework, EQF. The requirements are expressed in such a way to assist the processes of assessment and validation of learning outcomes.

Country: Estonia
National Ref: prEVS 938Title: Daylight in buildings – The date for calculation of the insulation
Scope: This standard specifies the date by which the position of the sun will be taken as the basis for the calculation of insolation, including the calculation of insolation according to standard

Country: Switzerland
National Ref: prSIA 2060
Title: Infrastructure for electric vehicles in buildings

Country: Italy
National Ref: UNI1605727
Title: Requirements and treatment of water for cooling and humidification system
Scope: The purpose of this standard is: To define and determine the chemical, chemical-physical and microbiological parameters of the waters used in the cooling and humidification plants, to define the internal and external treatments that contribute to the achievement and maintenance of optimal values of these parameters in order to ensure the proper functioning of the plants themselves.

Country: Germany
National Ref: 03200839
Title: Installation systems for gas installation inside buildings, consisting of multi-layer pipes and their corresponding fittings, for an operating pressure less than or equal to 100 mbar – Part 2: Conformity assessment

Country: Germany
National Ref: 03200840
Title: Installation systems for gas installation inside buildings, consisting of multi-layer pipes and their corresponding fittings, for an operating pressure less than or equal to 100 mbar – Part 3: Conformity assessment for the use of alternative pipe materials

Country: Germany
National Ref: 04111993
Title: Ventilation of buildings – air meters and air energy meters – requirements

Technical Regulations

The 2015/1535/EU Directive compels the Member States to notify to the Commission and to each other all the draft technical regulations concerning products. The aim of this procedure is to avoid creation of unjustified barriers between Member States. These regulations may be found under: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/tris/en/

Interested parties (companies, associations, individuals) can send their comments directly to the European Commission, DG Growth, unit B2 “Prevention of technical barriers”. This should happen within 4 weeks of the publication of the notification so that DG Grow can study the issue and decide on action. The mail should be addressed to Mr Casella Giuseppe, Head of Unit (guiseppe.casella@ec.europa.eu). The files would in general be treated by either the present Policy Officers Ms Francesca Stefania Condello (environmental issues), Ms Beatrix Hebenstreit (product issues) or Ms Gabriela Szmidt (energy issues). The list with national contact points (incomplete and with regular changes) can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/goods/free-movement-sectors/mutual-recognition/contacts-list_en.

The Commission and Member States have three months to introduce comments or detailed opinions.

Detailed opinions extend the status quo period by three months and oblige the issuing member state to argue on their legislation and to explain the action that it intends to take in response to the detailed opinion.

In the case of comments, only a clarification on the interpretation of the notified text is required. The Member State concerned shall take comments into account as far as possible. The impact of comments is therefore limited.

It is to be noted that the Commission can block a draft for a period of 12 to 18 months if European Union harmonisation work is to be undertaken or is already underway in the same field.

By early May 2019, the following notifications were published:

WTO TBT notifications

The notifications worldwide under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) can be consulted on:

• http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tbt_e/tbt_e.htm
• https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/FE_Browse/FE_B_S006.aspx

They are can also be consulted via the European Commission website:

• http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/tbt/en/

Experience shows that not all WTO notifications appear on the EU website. The following new, updated or corrected notifications were made available:

Recommended Actions

Manufacturers producing these products or active in these countries are recommended to check the contents of these proposals.

If necessary, the Eurovent Association can react or file a WTO complaint.

Related documents and links

All related documents and articles can be found in the respective sections in the right sidebar.

• GEN – 1018.00 – Notifications: Standardisation – March 2019