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 181/53

ANNEX V

CRITERIA TO BE MET WHEN AUTHORIZING USER INSPECTORATES REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 14

1. The user inspectorate must be organizationally identifiable and have reporting methods within the group of which it is part which ensure and demonstrate its impartiality. It must not be responsible for the design, manufacture, supply, installation, operation or maintenance of the pressure equipment or assemblies, and must not engage in any activities that might conflict with its independence of judgment and integrity in relation to its inspection activities.

2. The user inspectorate 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 user inspectorate 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 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 user inspectorate must have adequate liability insurance unless liability is assumed by the group of which it is part.

7. The personnel of the user inspectorate 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 user inspectorate must be organizationally identifiable and have reporting methods within the group of which it is part which ensure and demonstrate its impartiality. It must not be responsible for the design, manufacture, supply, installation, operation or maintenance of the pressure equipment or assemblies, and must not engage in any activities that might conflict with its independence of judgment and integrity in relation to its inspection activities.
2.	The user inspectorate 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 user inspectorate 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 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 user inspectorate must have adequate liability insurance unless liability is assumed by the group of which it is part.
7.	The personnel of the user inspectorate 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.