Transportable pressure equipment

The Committee on Transport and Tourism adopted the report by Brian Simpson (S&D, UK) on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on transportable pressure equipment.

It recommended that the European Parliament’s position at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure (formerly known as the codecision procedure) should be to amend the Commission proposal as follows:

- an amendment specifying that transportable pressure equipment shall be understood as including gas cartridges (UN No. 2037) and excluding aerosols (UN No. 1950), open cryogenic receptacles, gas cylinders for breathing apparatus, fire extinguishers (UN No. 1044), transportable pressure equipment exempted according to 1.1.3.2 of the Annexes to Directive 2008/68/EC and transportable pressure equipment exempted from the rules for construction and testing of packaging according to special provisions in 3.3 of the Annexes to Directive 2008/68/EC;

- periodic inspections, intermediate inspections and exceptional checks of transportable pressure equipment should be carried out in accordance with the Annexes to Directive 2008/68/EC and with this Directive to ensure continued compliance with their safety requirements;

- according to the Members, this Directive should not apply to transportable pressure equipment which was placed on the market before the date of implementation of Directive 1999/36/EC and which has not been subject to reassessment of conformity;

- if existing transportable pressure equipment not previously assessed for conformity with Directive 1999/36/EC is to benefit from free movement and free use, it should be subject to reassessment of conformity;

- Members propose a new recital which calls on the Commission to draw up specific guidelines to facilitate the practical implementation of the technical provisions of this Directive;

- lastly, as far as the new provisions on comitology are concerned, Members introduced modifications which aim at preserving Parliament's prerogatives and meeting its procedural requirements as regards both the revocation of the delegation of powers to the Commission and objections to delegated acts.