ABSTRACT
On 7 May 1985, the European Commission adopted a resolution setting out a ‘New Approach to Technical Harmonisation and Standards’. Under this, a series of Article 100A trading directives were to set ‘essential requirements’, mainly relating to safety and written in general terms, which products must satisfy before they were placed on the market anywhere in the Community. Under this procedure, European standards harmonised under a particular directive will fill in the detail. Compliance with such standards is likely to be the main way by which manufacturers, importers and suppliers will demonstrate that the essential requirements of the directive have been satisfied. Claims of conformity with the requirements of a directive are demonstrated by the affixing of a CE mark. Any product displaying the CE mark is entitled to unrestricted movement and sale throughout the EU. In the UK, the Department of Trade and Industry has been, and is, the lead body.
