DIRECTIVE 97/23/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

[ ANNEX 1] [ANNEX 2] [ANNEX 3] [ANNEX 4] [ANNEX 5] [ANNEX 6] [ANNEX 7]

Official Journal of the European Communities

No L 181/52

ANNEX IV

MINIMUM CRITERIA TO BE MET WHEN DESIGNATING THE NOTIFIED BODIES REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 12 AND THE RECOGNIZED THIRD-PARTY ORGANIZATIONS REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 13

1. The body, its director and the personnel responsible for carrying out the assessment and verification operations may not be the designer, manufacturer, supplier, installer or user of the pressure equipment or assemblies which that body inspects, nor the authorized representative of any of those parties. They may not become directly involved in the design, construction, marketing or maintenance of the pressure equipment or assemblies, nor represent the parties engaged in these activities. This does not preclude the possibility of exchanges of technical information between the manufacturer of pressure equipment or assemblies and the notified body.

2. The body and its personnel must carry out the assessments and verifications with the highest degree of professional integrity and technical competence and must be free from all pressures and inducements, particularly financial, which might influence their judgment or the results of the inspection, especially from persons or groups of persons with an interest in the results of verifications.

3. The body must have at its disposal the necessary personnel and possess the necessary facilities to enable it to perform properly the technical and administrative tasks connected with the inspection and surveillance operations, it must also have access to the equipment required to perform special verifications.

4. The personnel responsible for inspection must have:
- sound technical and vocational training,
- satisfactory knowledge of the requirements of the inspections they carry out and adequate experience of such operations,
- the ability required to draw up the certificates, records and reports to demonstrate that the inspections have been carried out.

5. The impartiality of the inspection personnel must be guaranteed. Their remuneration must not depend on the number of inspections carried out, nor on the results of such inspections.

6. The body must take out liability insurance unless its liability is assumed by the State in accordance with national law, or the Member State itself is directly responsible for the inspections.

7. The personnel of the body must observe professional secrecy with regard to all information gained in carrying out their tasks (except vis-a-vis the competent administrative authorities of the State in which their activities are carried out) under the Directive or any provision of national law giving effect to it.

1.	The body, its director and the personnel responsible for carrying out the assessment and verification operations may not be the designer, manufacturer, supplier, installer or user of the pressure equipment or assemblies which that body inspects, nor the authorized representative of any of those parties. They may not become directly involved in the design, construction, marketing or maintenance of the pressure equipment or assemblies, nor represent the parties engaged in these activities. This does not preclude the possibility of exchanges of technical information between the manufacturer of pressure equipment or assemblies and the notified body.
2.	The body and its personnel must carry out the assessments and verifications with the highest degree of professional integrity and technical competence and must be free from all pressures and inducements, particularly financial, which might influence their judgment or the results of the inspection, especially from persons or groups of persons with an interest in the results of verifications.
3.	The body must have at its disposal the necessary personnel and possess the necessary facilities to enable it to perform properly the technical and administrative tasks connected with the inspection and surveillance operations, it must also have access to the equipment required to perform special verifications.
4.	The personnel responsible for inspection must have: - sound technical and vocational training, - satisfactory knowledge of the requirements of the inspections they carry out and adequate experience of such operations, - the ability required to draw up the certificates, records and reports to demonstrate that the inspections have been carried out.
5.	The impartiality of the inspection personnel must be guaranteed. Their remuneration must not depend on the number of inspections carried out, nor on the results of such inspections.
6.	The body must take out liability insurance unless its liability is assumed by the State in accordance with national law, or the Member State itself is directly responsible for the inspections.
7.	The personnel of the body must observe professional secrecy with regard to all information gained in carrying out their tasks (except vis-a-vis the competent administrative authorities of the State in which their activities are carried out) under the Directive or any provision of national law giving effect to it.