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(1) Directive 2009/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 relating to simple pressure vessels has been substantially amended . Since further amendments are to be made, that Directive should be recast in the interests of clarity.

(2) Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 setting out the requirements for accreditation and market surveillance relating to the marketing of products lays down rules on the accreditation of conformity assessment bodies, provides a framework for the market surveillance of products and for controls on products from third countries, and lays down the general principles of the CE marking.

(3) Decision No 768/2008/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on a common framework for the marketing of products lays down common principles and reference provisions intended to apply across sectoral legislation in order to provide a coherent basis for revision or recasts of that legislation. Directive 2009/105/EC should be adapted to that Decision.

(4) This Directive covers simple pressure vessels which are new to the Union market when they are placed on the market; that is to say they are either new simple pressure vessels made by a manufacturer established in the Union or simple pressure vessels, whether new or second-hand, imported from a third country.

(5) This Directive should apply to all forms of supply, including distance selling.

(6) Member States should ensure on their territory the protection of the health and safety of persons, and the protection of domestic animals and property with regard to the hazards resulting from the leakage or bursting of simple pressure vessels.

(7) Economic operators should be responsible for the compliance of simple pressure vessels with this Directive, in relation to their respective roles in the supply chain, so as to ensure a high level of protection of public interests, such as the health and safety of persons, and protection of domestic animals and property, and to guarantee fair competition on the Union market.

(8) All economic operators intervening in the supply and distribution chain should take appropriate measures to ensure that they only make available on the market simple pressure vessels which are in conformity with this Directive. It is necessary to provide for a clear and proportionate distribution of obligations which correspond to the role of each economic operator in the supply and distribution chain.

(9) In order to facilitate communication between economic operators, market surveillance authorities and end-users, Member States should encourage economic operators to include a website address in addition to the postal address.

(10) The manufacturer, having detailed knowledge of the design and production process, is best placed to carry out the conformity assessment procedure for simple pressure vessels. Conformity assessment should therefore remain solely the obligation of the manufacturer.

(11) It is necessary to ensure that simple pressure vessels from third countries entering the Union market comply with this Directive, and in particular that the appropriate conformity assessment procedures have been carried out by manufacturers with regard to those simple pressure vessels. Provision should therefore be made for importers to make sure that the simple pressure vessels they place on the market comply with the requirements of this Directive and that they do not place on the market simple pressure vessels which do not comply with such requirements or present a risk. Provision should also be made for importers to make sure that conformity assessment procedures have been carried out and that product marking and documentation drawn up by manufacturers are available for inspection by the competent national authorities.

(12) When placing a simple pressure vessel on the market, every importer should indicate on the simple pressure vessel his name, registered trade name or registered trade mark and the postal address at which he can be contacted. Exceptions should be provided for in cases where the nature of the simple pressure vessel does not allow it.

(13) The distributor makes a simple pressure vessel available on the market after it has been placed on the market by the manufacturer or the importer and should act with due care to ensure that its handling of the simple pressure vessel does not adversely affect the compliance of the simple pressure vessel.

(14) Any economic operator that either places a simple pressure vessel on the market under its own name or trade mark or modifies a simple pressure vessel in such a way that compliance with this Directive may be affected should be considered to be the manufacturer and should assume the obligations of the manufacturer.

(15) Distributors and importers, being close to the market place, should be involved in market surveillance tasks carried out by the competent national authorities, and should be prepared to participate actively, providing those authorities with all necessary information relating to the simple pressure vessel concerned.

(16) Ensuring traceability of a simple pressure vessel throughout the whole supply chain helps to make market surveillance simpler and more efficient. An efficient traceability system facilitates the market surveillance authorities’ task of tracing economic operators who made non-compliant simple pressure vessels available on the market. When keeping the information required under this Directive for the identification of other economic operators, economic operators should not be required to update such information in respect of other economic operators who have either supplied them with a simple pressure vessel or to whom they have supplied a simple pressure vessel.

(17) This Directive should be limited to the expression of the essential safety requirements. In order to facilitate conformity assessment with those requirements it is necessary to provide for a presumption of conformity for simple pressure vessels which are in conformity with harmonised standards that are adopted in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on European Standardisation for the purpose of expressing detailed technical specifications of those requirements.

(18) Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 provides for a procedure for objections to harmonised standards where those standards do not entirely satisfy the requirements of this Directive.

(19) In order to enable economic operators to demonstrate and the competent authorities to ensure that simple pressure vessels made available on the market comply with the essential safety requirements, it is necessary to provide for conformity assessment procedures. Decision No 768/2008/EC establishes modules for conformity assessment procedures, which include procedures from the least to the most stringent, in proportion to the level of risk involved and the level of safety required. In order to ensure inter-sectoral coherence and to avoid ad-hoc variants, conformity assessment procedures should be chosen from among those modules.

(20) Manufacturers should draw up an EU declaration of conformity to provide information required under this Directive on the conformity of a simple pressure vessel with this Directive and other relevant Union harmonisation legislation.

(21) To ensure effective access to information for market surveillance purposes, the information required to identify all applicable Union acts should be available in a single EU declaration of conformity. In order to reduce the administrative burden on economic operators, that single EU declaration of conformity may be a dossier made up of relevant individual declarations of conformity.

(22) The CE marking, indicating the conformity of a simple pressure vessel, is the visible consequence of a whole process comprising conformity assessment in a broad sense. General principles governing the CE marking and its relationship to other markings are set out in Regulation (EC) No 765/2008. Rules governing the affixing of the CE marking should be laid down in this Directive.

(23) A check on compliance with the relevant essential safety requirements is necessary in order to provide effective protection for end-users and third parties.

(24) The conformity assessment procedures set out in this Directive require the intervention of conformity assessment bodies, which are notified by the Member States to the Commission.

(25) Experience has shown that the criteria set out in Directive 2009/105/EC that conformity assessment bodies have to fulfil to be notified to the Commission are not sufficient to ensure a uniformly high level of performance of notified bodies throughout the Union. It is, however, essential that all notified bodies perform their functions to the same level and under conditions of fair competition. That requires the setting of obligatory requirements for conformity assessment bodies wishing to be notified in order to provide conformity assessment services.

(26) If a conformity assessment body demonstrates conformity with the criteria laid down in harmonised standards, it should be presumed to comply with the corresponding requirements set out in this Directive.

(27) In order to ensure a consistent level of conformity assessment quality it is also necessary to set requirements for the notifying authorities and other bodies involved in the assessment, notification and monitoring of notified bodies.