Issue 3/2009


05/02/09

Update on Recent Developments European Directives for Lifts

Beata Pich

The Directive 95/16/EC of 29 June 19953) on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to lifts (‘Lifts Directive ’) objectives are the permission of the free movement of lifts and safety components for lifts within the internal market and ensuring that such products provide a high level of protection of the health and safety of people. The Lifts Directive has been applicable for over nine years. The assessment of the functioning of its provisions confirmed that the Lifts Directive is generally well applied and there is no urgent need for its revision. The new lifts installed according to the European safety requirements are compliant and safe.
Category: Issue 3/2009
Posted by: Editor

Some provisions have been revised through the new Machinery Directive of 17 May 2006, which has amended the Lifts Directive. The impact of the NewLegislative Framework, i.e. the modernization of the New Approach for marketing of products, published in the Official Journal on 13 August 2008 on the Lifts Directive will also be assessed. All possible improvements will be based on full consultation and cooperation with the: Member States; EEA countries; the Lifts Industry; other interested parties.

1. Introduction
The European Parliament and Council Directive 95/16/EC of 29 June 1995 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to lifts establishes European legal requirements for the design, installation and placing on the market of new lifts and safety components for lifts listed in Annex IV of the Directive.
It was adopted on the 29th June 1995 and came into force on 1st July 1999.
It sets out the conformity assessment procedures to be followed by lift installers to ensure conformity with these requirements.
The Lifts Directive objectives are: to permit the free movement of lifts and safety components for lifts within the internal market and to ensure that these products provide a high level of protection of the health and safety of people.
1.1 The scope of the Lifts Directive
The lifts covered by the scope of the Lifts Directive include new lifts permanently installed in buildings and constructions for carrying passengers or passengers and loads. Lifts temporarily installed in outdoor mountain or urban sites (e.g.: cableways and funicular railways, or lifts installed on machinery or in mineshafts) are covered by other Directives (Directive 2006/42/EC4) on Machinery; Directive 2000/9/EC5) relating to Cableways).
The provisions of the Directive are implemented in the national law of each Member State of the European Union.
1.2 The Harmonized Standards for lifts
The technical specifications of products meeting the essential requirements set out in the new approach directives are laid down in harmonized standards. Application of such standards confers a presumption of conformity with the essential health and safety requirements they cover. In order to confer this presumption of conformity, the references of the standards must be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The status of European harmonised standards with respect to the Lifts Directive is established in its Article 5(2). Nevertheless, according to the principle of the new approach policy (of 1985) the application of harmonized or other standards remains voluntary. The manufacturer may always apply other technical specifications to meet the requirements of the particular Directive.
The latest list of harmonized standards for lifts has been published in Official Journal C 273, 28. 10. 2008, p. 23–25. It is available under the following address:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/mechan_ equipment/lifts/stand.htm
1.3 Management of the Lifts Directive
The Lifts Directive is managed by the following bodies:

- The Lifts Committee (LC) [and the Lifts Working Group (LWG)]

  • set up according to Article 6(3) with a role to advise the Commission. The Committee is chaired by a representative of the Commission and consists of the Member States representatives and of the observers, i.e.: the members of the EEA and other countries witch have mutual recognition agreements with the EU for lifts.
The Lifts Working Group was set up with an aim to allow observers from the industry, standardization and the Notified Bodies to take part in the discussion of problems relating to the practical application of the Lifts Directive. The Lifts Working Group is also chaired by a representative of the Commission and made up of representatives of the Member States. EFTA countries possess the observer status. Trades unions and associations of property owners are also represented there.
Documents approved by the Lifts Working Group are published on the http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/mechan_equipment/lifts/index.htm.

- The coordination of Notified Bodies (NB-L)

The European Coordination Group for the Lifts Directive has been set up in order to discuss and to solve problems relating to the conformity assessment procedures and to harmonize practices of the activities of Notified Bodies. Meetings of NB-L are chaired by an elected representative of one of the Notified Bodies. Representatives of the European Commission and of Member States assist as observers as well as experts from the lifts industry and standardization. Particular topics are discussed in details at the level of Ad HocGroups for NB-L.
NB-L adopts Recommendations for Use which provide agreed answers to questions that have been discussed in the Group. These are then communicated to the Lifts Working Group for endorsement. The Recommendations for usethat have been endorsed by the Lifts Working Group are published on the Commission’s Website EUROPA: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/mechan_equipment/lifts/nblifts_rfus.pdf
- Group for Administrative Cooperation for Lifts (Lifts ADCO)
  • has been formed in order to facilitate the cooperation between the market surveillance authorities of the Member States and with the European Commission who here can share information and optimize resources to improve the effectiveness of market surveillance at a national level.
The ADCO meetings are chaired by one of the Member States. The meetings are restricted to representatives of theMember States and the Commission and the proceedings of the meetingsare confidential.
The picture (Fig. 1) shows the organizational scheme for the Lifts Directive.
2. Recent developments relating to the Lifts Directive
2.1 The revision of the Machinery Directive
The revised Machinery Directive in its Article 24 amends the Lifts Directive. The new Machinery directive was adopted on 17 May 20066). It will be applicable from 29th December 2009.
The elements of uncertainty about the borderline between the Lifts Directive and the Machinery Directive have been corrected.
For example the new Machinery Directive has clarified the definition of the “carrier” that means a part of the lift by which persons and/or goods are supported in order to be lifted or lowered.
As from 29th December 2009 lifts with a travel speed not greater than 0.15 m/s will be excluded from the scope of the Lifts Directive and will therefore be subject to the Machinery Directive. In addition, in Annex I of the revised Machinery Directive, essential health and safety requirements have been added to deal with the specific risks associated with lifting machinery serving fixed landings. Escalators and mechanical walkways will explicitly be excluded from the scope of the Lifts Directive.
2.2 The Guide to Application of the Lifts Directive 95/16/EC
The Guide to Application of the Lifts Directive has been approved by the Lifts Committee on 15 May 2007 and is available at the Website EUROPA under the following address:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/mechan_ equipment/lifts/guidance.htm
The document has been drawn up by the services of the European Commission with a help of the Editorial Group composed of the experts of the lifts sector. It has been deeply consulted with the Member States and with the representatives of the lifts industry, standardization, Notified Bodies and users of lifts.
The Guide sets out the text of the Lifts Directive 95/16/EC and includes comments on its provisions. It includes hyperlinks to a number of reference documents.
The aim of the Guide is to foster uniform interpretation and application of the Lifts Directive’s provisions. Nevertheless it has to be underlined that only implementations of the provisions of the Directive in each Member State have the force of law.
The Commission intends to update the Guide regularly in order to include opinions adopted by the Lifts Committee or answers agreed by the Lifts Working Group to questions that arise during application of the Directive.
Currently under discussion there is an issue concerning the inspection lifts. The consolidated guidelines will amend the Guide in near future. The relevant interpretation note has been approved by the Lifts Committee in 2008. It refers to the one of the exclusions listed in the Article 1(3) of the Lifts Directive i.e. lifts connected to machinery and intended exclusively for access to the workplace7).
It has been agreed that this exclusion applies in the following cases:
  • Lifts, intended exclusively for access to the workplace, that are connected to machinery which is not a building or construction (such as, for example, lifts for access to the operator’s cab connected to tower cranes): such lifts are excluded from the Lifts Directive and are subject to the Machinery Directive.
  • Lifts, intended exclusively for access to the work place, that are connected to buildings or constructions which are an integral part of machinery (such as, for example, lifts in windmills): such lifts are excluded from the Lifts Directive and are subject to the Machinery Directive.
The exclusion does not apply in the following cases:
  • Lifts intended for access to workplaces on machinery that are connected to buildings or constructions which arenot an integral part of the machinery: such lifts are subject to the Lifts Directive.
  • Lifts connected to machinery that are intended for transporting members of the public: such lifts are subject to the Lifts Directive.
The new guidelines are going to amend § 23 of the Lifts Guide.
The Committee for European Standardization (CEN) has started the investigation of the potential needs of standardization work relating to the inspection lifts.
2.3 Re-examination of the provisions of the Lifts Directive
The Lifts Directive came fully into force nine years ago. Following the requirements of Article 16 of the Lifts Directive the Commission was obliged to re-examine the functioning of the procedures laid down in the Directive.
Two studies have been ordered by the Commission in the framework of the assessment of application of the Lifts Directive:
  • In 2004 – Study on Application of the Directive 95/16/EC – has checked the functioning of the Lifts Directive in 7 Member States: Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom.
  • In 2007 – Study on the Technical Assessment of Means of Preventing the Crushing Risk on Lifts Subject to Directive 95/16/EC aiming in to the examination whether the solutions available, other than free space or refuges, to prevent the crushing risk provide an equivalent level of safety.
Study of 2007 consisted of three tasks: 1. Investigation of data on accidents and that have occurred at extreme positions of the lift cars; 2. Description of the existing means to prevent the crushing risk and 3. Comparative assessment of the alternative means available for preventing the crushing risk.
It has been concluded that free spaces should still be given the first priority, but the dimensions given in the current standards should be improved. Alternative means could ensure an equivalent level of safety providing they did not rely on safe methods of work. The debate on the outcome of the Study has confirmed the need for improvement of the section 2.2 of Annex I to the Lifts Directive relating to the authorization by the national authorities of derogations to the requirement for free space above and below the extreme positions of the car.
The aim for both studies was to submit, if necessary, proposals for appropriate amendments. There were identified problem areas. Some of them have been already improved by the revision of the Machinery Directive, e.g.: lack of clear borderline between the scopes of the Lifts Directive and the Machinery Directive (as mentioned above).
But still some difficult interfaces with building regulations (e.g. fi re prevention, access for handicapped people) can be noticed as well as the need for more and better market surveillance by Member States.
Nevertheless the general conclusion of both studies is that the Lifts Directive is generally well applied and there is no urgent need for the revision of the Lifts Directive. The new lifts installed according to the European safety requirements appear to be compliant and safe.
3. Perspectives for the New Approach Directives
3.1 Revision of the New Approach policy
On 23 June 2008 the New Legal Framework (NLF) within the framework the modernization of the New Approach formarketing of products was adopted. The NLF consists of:
  • the Regulation setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products
  • the Decision on a common framework for the marketing of products
Both of them published on EUROPA Web- Pages:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newapproach/index_en.htm
The Regulation on marketing of products shall apply from 1 January 2010. It shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
The Decision can be used immediately after its publication but to be operational it needs to be considered by the existing sectoral Directives when they are revised.
The preparation of the implementing actions for accreditation policy and market surveillance has started.
The main objective of the NLF package is to consolidate the key concepts of the New Approach policy; to improve the evaluation and monitoring of conformity assessment bodies (testing, certification and inspection laboratories) including the increased use of accreditation and to strengthen market surveillance. Additionally it is expected that the credibility of the CE marking will be enhanced.
3.2 Impact of the New Approach policy revision on the Lifts Directive
Amongst the next steps in the frame of the revision of the new approach policy the following have been mentioned: indepth analysis on the marking issues; initiatives for Market Surveillance; implementation measures relating to the European cooperation for Accreditation (EA); review of sectoral directives to bring them in line with the Decision.
The findings and conclusions of the Commission’s studies on the functioning of the provisions of the Lifts Directive would be also taken into account in order to decide on the future policy in that field.
The Commission has started the detailed debate concerning the assessment of the policy on the sectoral directives.
Any further amendment of the Lifts Directive, if necessary, will begin after that analysis is completed.
The following issues could be considered for the potential amendment of the Lifts Directive if any:
  • Improvement of the Section 2.2. of Annex I8) of the Lifts Directive relating to the prior approval by the Member State where the solution of permanent free spaces is impossible to fulfil.
  • Review of the conformity assessment procedures modules towards simplification
  • Notification of the notified bodies – improved coordination needed.
3.3 Subjects under discussion
To complete the picture of recent activities in the field of lifts safety the following subject could be listed that are currently debated in the Lifts Committee Notified Bodies and Lifts ADCO:
  • the acceptance of alternative testing methods to the traditional load tests(physical load) on lifts installation
  • the special tools and software necessary for safe and effective execution of maintenance or rescue operations
  • the diameter of traction ropes for lifts – conditions for the acceptance of the ropes with the diameter below 8 as specified in the harmonized standards (EN 81) supporting Lifts Directive.
4. Summary
Nine years of application of the Lifts Directive shows that it fulfils its objects. The new lifts installed according to the European safety requirements generally are compliant and safe.
All interested parties are invited to take part in the discussions of problems relating to the practical application of the Lifts Directive either trough the participation in the activities of the Lifts Committee or Coordination Group of Notified Bodies for Lifts (NB-L) or Administrative Cooperation for Lifts (Lifts ADCO). All potential solutions for any improvements are based on full consultation and cooperation between Member States of the EU, EEA countries, the Lifts Industry representatives and other interested parties.
Lecture on the occasion of the European Lift Congress Heilbronn 2008
1) Information was updated in January 2009.
2) The views expressed are purely those of the writer and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an offi cial position of the European Commission.
3) Directive 95/16/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 June 1995 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to lifts – OJEU L 213, 7.9.1995, p. 1
4) Directive 2006/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on machinery, and amending Directive 95/16/EC (recast) – OJEU L 157 of 9.6.2006, p. 24.
5) Directive 2000/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 March 2000 relating to cableway installations designed to carry persons – OJ L 106, 3.5.2000, p. 21–48.
6) Directive 2006/42/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on machinery, and amending Directive 95/16/EC (recast) – OJEU L 157 of 9.6.2006, p. 24.
7) The wording of this exclusion is modifi ed by the amendment to the Lifts Directive introduced by Article 24(1) of the revised Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC that will be applicable from 29th December 2009: This Directive shall not apply to … – lifting appliances connected to machinery and intended exclusively for access to workstations including maintenance and inspection points on the machinery
8) 2.2. The lift must be designed and constructed to prevent the risk of crushing when the car is in one of its extreme positions. The objective will be achieved by means of free space or refuge beyond the extreme positions. However, in specific cases, in affording Member States the possibility of giving prior approval, particularly in existing buildings, where this solution is impossible to fulfil, other appropriate means may be provided to avoid this risk.
3/2009

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