Imposing additional requirements for fire safety purposes as a condition for placing on the national market certain equipment bearing the CE marking is contrary to European Union law, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled on Thursday 23 March (Case C-653/21).
In France, for reasons of safety against the risk of fire, a ministerial decree of 2019 makes the use of certain equipment (e.g. refrigerators and air conditioners) in establishments open to the public subject to compliance with a number of requirements to which equipment with the CE marking is not subject, on condition that the equipment is hermetically sealed.
According to the association Uniclima, the requirement that equipment with the CE marking must be hermetically sealed is in addition to the requirements already laid down in three directives (2006/42/EC, 2014/35/EU, 2014/68/EU). The organisation is of the opinion that the contested decree creates distortions of competition insofar as it requires economic operators to modify their products solely for the purpose of making these products available on the French market.
In a case brought by the Council of State, the Court ruled in favour of the association. It recalls that CE marking allows the manufacturer to prove that their equipment is in conformity, after evaluation, with the harmonised requirements at EU level.
Thus, the Court adds, a Member State may not, even “solely for the use of that equipment in premises open to the public and having regard to specific fire safety risks”, impose requirements additional to those laid down by EU law for the making available of such equipment on the national market. Such national requirements would render the harmonisation measures provided for in this directive ineffective, it adds.
See the Court’s judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/5zx (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)