Pressure equipment: harmonisation of essential safety requirements

In adopting the report by Mr Ejner CHRISTIANSEN (NI, DK), Parliament approved as a whole the Commission directive on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States concerning pressure equipment. The directive laid down the essential requirements relating to safety, public health and hygiene and other social aspects that could affect humans, animals and goods, without however lowering the protection levels established by the Member States. Nonetheless, it asked for the directive on simple pressure vessels and the directive on aerosols to be incorporated into this directive. Parliament called for the directive to be applied to the design, manufacture and conformity assessment of pressure equipment subject to an allowable pressure greater than 0.5 bar (the Commission hoped that it would also apply to equipment with a pressure below 0.5 bar). It also called for stricter limits for gas mains. Finally, in order to ensure unified application of the directive in all countries, it called for the establishment of a permanent advisory committee consisting of technical experts who would be exclusively responsible for the issue of pressure equipment. �