Guidelines on the requirements of Directive 73/23/EEC

SAFETY REQUIREMENTS OF THE DIRECTIVE

(Summary)

The Directive covers all risks arising from the use of electrical equipment, including not just electrical ones but also mechanical, chemical (such as, in particular, emission of aggressive substances) and all other risks. The Directive also covers health aspects of noise and vibrations, and ergonomic aspects as far as ergonomic requirements are necessary to protect against hazards in the sense of the Directive.

Article 2 and Annex I lay down eleven "safety objectives", which represent the essential requirements of this Directive.

It should be noted that electromagnetic compatibility (emission and immunity) aspects are excluded from the scope of this Directive and are separately regulated under Directive 89/336/EEC.

Radiation aspects referred to in Annex I to the Directive are limited to those directly relevant for health and safety of persons and domestic animals and do not cover electromagnetic disturbances in the sense of the EMC Directive.

The Commission interpret that all electromagnetic aspects relating to safety including functional safety are covered by the LVD. This covers also the effect of electromagnetic fields, emitted by electrical apparatus.

Finally, it should also be noted again that for certain electrical equipment, the provisions of other directives also apply.

MANDATORY SAFETY REQUIREMENTS

Article 2 of the Directive states:
1. "The Member States shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that electrical equipment may be placed on the market only if, having been constructed in accordance with good engineering practice in safety matters in force in the Community, it does not endanger the safety of persons, domestic animals or property when properly installed and maintained and used in applications for which it was made."

2. "The principal elements of the safety objective referred to in paragraph 1 are listed in Annex 1."

Article 5 of the directive states:
 "The member states shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that, in particular, electrical equipment which complies with the safety provisions of harmonized standards, shall be regarded by their competent administrative authorities as complying with the provisions of Article 2, for the purposes of placing on the market and free movement as referred to in Articles 2 and 3 respectively."

As far as substantive safety requirements are concerned, eleven "objectives" are mentioned in Annex 1 to the directive.

These are the mandatory safety provisions, which products must comply with in order to be allowed onto the EU market and benefit from freedom of movement in the Community (Articles 2 and 3). Consequently, any national standards or national specifications related to the safety of electrical equipment do not have a mandatory status (e.g. BS7671 IEE Wiring Regulations) and may not be a condition for its placing on the market.

Article 7 of the Directive provides for mutual recognition of national standards in case of absence of standards within the meaning of Articles 5 and 6. However, such national standards might, in certain cases, not cover all the "safety objectives" of the Directive.

Therefore, manufacturers using those standards should carefully check compliance with all the safety requirements of the Directive.

The phrase at the end of Article 7 ("if it ensures a safety level equivalent to that required in their own territory") does not, per se, authorise Member States to require compliance with safety levels other than those resulting from the "safety objectives".

Nevertheless, compliance with the safety objectives of the Directive, which are identical for the whole Community,  may imply in some cases compliance with different requirements from one Member State to another to take account of different objective situations, e.g. requirements resulting from supply systems which vary from one region of the Community to another.

In the light of the above, national laws or regulations requiring compliance with particular technical specifications (where they exist) may not be considered to be mandatory. They may only eventually have the status of specifications giving presumption of conformity, when appropriate.

It follows that manufacturers can no longer be obliged to comply with national specifications in the case of equipment otherwise satisfying the "safety objectives" of the Directive. Where the standards referred to in Articles 5 or 6 do not yet exist, manufacturers are, of course, entitled to comply with any appropriate specifications in order to facilitate demonstrating conformity with the "safety objectives".

The non mandatory nature of specifications in national rules is from the point of view of EC law confirmed by the rulings of the Court of Justice, according to which national authorities and courts must not apply national provisions which conflict with Community provisions.

Nor can such provisions be imposed in addition to, or instead of, the technical specifications contained in the harmonised standards, as they have ceased to be binding.

Within the field covered by the Directive there is therefore no longer any point in referring to such provisions under "A - deviations" in "harmonisation documents" (HD) or "European standards" (EN).

Keeping these provisions in the legal system of the Member States in the form of obligatory provisions would constitute an infringement to the Directive and expose the Member States in question to the procedure set out in Article 169 of the Treaty. 

Summary

• The mandatory requirements of the LV Directive are fully met by complying with BSEN 60439-1, the harmonised standard for LV switchgear and controlgear.
• Where a harmonised standard exists, National standards or national specifications do not have a mandatory status. (e.g. BS7671 IEE Wiring Regulations, Electricity at Work Regulations, etc.)
• It is illegal to impose additional safety conditions, in addition to those set out in the LV Directive.