Cableways Impact Assessment Study - Final Report - saferail.nl

Risk & Policy Analysts
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to Study
The purpose of Directive 2000/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 20 March 2000 relating to cableway installations designed to carry persons
(hereafter referred to as ‘the Cableways Directive’ or ‘the Directive’) is to establish
the free movement in the internal market of safety components and subsystems of
cableway installations while maintaining a uniform and high level of safety.
The Cableways Directive entered into force on 3 May 2000 and became fully
applicable on 3 May 2004 in member countries of the European Economic Area
(EEA), i.e. in all Member States of the European Union as well as in Iceland,
Liechtenstein and Norway.
According to a report 2 by the Commission, prepared in 2011, the adoption and
implementation of the Directive had been successful in establishing an internal market
for safety components and subsystems, while guaranteeing a uniform and high level
of safety. However, the Commission also identified a number of issues that may need
to be addressed. Several specific ‘problem areas’ have been identified and these are
also discussed in the Roadmap for Directive 2000/9/EC 3 issued by DG Enterprise and
Industry. These include:
1. Scope of the Directive: there are some difficulties concerning the scope of the
Directive, in particular with regard to new types of installations;
2. Conformity Procedures: the Cableways Directive does not provide a specific
conformity assessment module for subsystems (although it is provided for safety
components). This situation has led to some divergences in interpretation and
implementation of the conformity evaluation of subsystems; and
3. New Legal Framework (NLF): although the Directive is a ‘New Approach
Directive’, there is a need to align more closely with the NLF, with particular
regard to Decision No 768/2008/EC relating to the marketing of products and
dealing, for example, with the obligations for economic operators and notified
bodies.
2
3
European Commission (2011): First report on the implementation of Directive 2000/9/EC relating
to cableway installations designed to carry persons, report from the Commission to the European
Parliament and the Council, COM(2011) 123 final dated 16.3.2011.
DG Enterprise (2010): Roadmap for Directive 2000/9/EC relating to cableway installations
designed to carry persons, Revised Version dated May 2011.
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