In the context of the Commission Staff Working Document on the evaluation of the Low Voltage Directive (2014/35/EU), a questionnaire was addressed to 116 manufacturers, 12 national authorities and other stakeholders. All types of stakeholder groups consulted confirmed that Harmonised standards and standardisation is an effective means to ensure the adaptability of the Directive to market trends, including technological innovation.
Harmonised standards are implemented at the national level and entail the withdrawal of any conflicting ones. This transposition at national level therefore clearly contributes to the removal of barriers to trade within the single internal market. This was also confirmed by the economic operators having replied to the survey who highlighted the positive effects of standardisation on the internal market.
The stakeholder survey provides positive feedback relating to LVD’s contribution to a well-functioning internal market, including 9 out of 12 national authorities and 90 out of the 116 manufacturers reported that the LVD facilitated intra-EU exchanges to at least some extent, with the majority (69) being satisfied to a great extent; these opinions are aligned across SMEs and large corporations.
According to Article 12 of the Directive 2014/35/EU relating to the making available on the market of electrical equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits, electrical equipment which is in conformity with harmonised standards or parts thereof the references of which have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union shall be presumed to be in conformity with the safety objectives referred to in Article 3 and set out in Annex I covered by those standards or parts thereof. A summary of references of such Harmonised Standards providing a presumption of conformity with the safety objectives of LVD can be found on the page https://genorma.com/en/summary-of-relevant-harmonised-standards-for-electrical-equipment-designed-for-use-within-certain-voltage-limits-and-drafted-in-support-of-directive-2014-35-eu_p10125.html
