Brussels, 28/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has decided to send a reasoned opinion to France, which has not yet completed transposition of the 1998 Directive on in vitro diagnostic medical devices. The Directive establishes technical specifications guaranteeing a high level of quality and safety for a very broad range of products (reagents, control materials, apparatus, instruments, software, etc.) intended for in vitro examination of specimens from the human body. It was to have been transposed by Member Sates by 7 December 1999 at the latest. France proceeded to transposition pursuant to an Order of 1 March 2001 but has still not adopted the application decree which would allow it to be effectively implemented. The French authorities insist there was a technical delay caused by the complexity of norms.