European Directive for Measuring Instruments -A new challenge to industry and to the state

摘要

After nearly ten years of preparatory work, the Commission of the European Union intends to submit the draft of a general directive for measuring instruments to the European Council and the European Parliament for further handling. To start with, the draft was forwarded to the national metrology institutes responsible for issuing type approvals. In this paper the concept of the draft directive is presented and legal aspects are dealt with. The Commission's proposals for the further harmonization of the measuring instruments market are elucidated and potential conclusions are drawn, which might be of significance particularly for the weighing instrument industry since a totally harmonized directive according to the new approach is already available for this area.