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SOGS N356 EN
For the attention of Mr. Vardakas
NOTE TO THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Subject: Procedures for the assessment, inspection and monitoring of notified bodies
At the last meeting of the Senior Officials Group on Standardisation and Conformity
Assessment Policy (SOGS), following the contributions of the United Kingdom and
Sweden, you requested information on the practices of the other Member States regarding
notification of the bodies responsible for assessing conformity under the New Approach
Directives on technical harmonisation.
The French authorities said at the time that they would put forward - under the French
Presidency - a memorandum on this subject with the aim of increasing the harmonisation
of practices in this area. For this purpose they have set up an inter-ministerial working
party to discuss specific proposals to harmonise Community practices, on the basis of
national practices.
Pending this proposal, which should reach you at the beginning of the French presidency,
they are sending you the procedures applied in France for notification of the bodies
responsible for assessing conformity.
First, although the diversity of the sectors of activity covered by the New Approach
Directives means that the procedure has to include some special provisions, often linked
to the rules previously governing the sector, it is nevertheless true that national policy in
this area is based on homogeneous principles, mainly because of the existence of interministerial
coordination in France.
Consequently, notification of the bodies takes place after the selection criteria have been
drawn up, the potential applicants have been informed, the applications have been
examined and, finally, a decision has been taken by the ministerial department or
departments responsible for regulating these operations.
These stages prior to notification of the European Commission constitute authorisation by
the public authorities. The authorities then notify the Commission of the bodies, an
operation known as designation.
The decision is then made binding for the notified bodies as regards the obligations on
them to observe certain criteria and to inform the notifying bodies of the performance of
their work and organisational and operational developments.
1. CRITERIA FOR THE SELECTION OF NOTIFIED BODIES
Generally speaking, the French authorities follow the instructions given in Commission
documents CERTIF 97/1, 97/4, 98/4 and 98/5 and those issued for implementing each of
the directives.