Certification type documentation such as Declarations of Conformity can be in any EU language. User documentation relating to safe use of the product MUST be in the language(s) of the country in which the product is being sold, although if the product has separate installation or maintainance instructions these can be in a language likely to be understood by appropriately trained personnel.
This requirement is a function of the directives (most clearly elucidated in the Machinery Directive, but the principle applies to LVD and EMC, as well as all the other CE mark directives), independently of any requirements contained in harmonised standards. It's a fairly basic principle of criminal law (which this is) that you can't alter your legal obligations by contractual means, so I'm afraid that the basic premise of your approach is flawed. Sorry to say, but you may be living on borrowed time if you are not providing manuals in appropriate languages in all markets. It's also a basic principle of article 100a of the Treaty of Rome (which is the root of all CE-mark directives) that member states of the EU cannot oblige manufacturers of legitimately CE marked goods to meet any different or additional requirements to those laid out in the directives. The requirements of the national public safety law in Germany are required to be harmonised with those of all other EU member states - compliance with any additional requirements (such as any required for the application of certification/agency approval marks) is optional and, in this sense, has nothing to do with CE marking. The effect on your products is as you descibe, but the basis of the requirements is not. Nick. >Richard, > >I can only speak from my experience with the LVD and EMC directives. > >1) The requirement for CE marked products is that the user documentation and >the DoC be in "one" of the official languages of the EU. So, we use English >as one of the languages. > >2) That being said, the safety standards my company uses to comply with the >CE mark, require that we provide user documentation in any of the other >official languages if in fact our customer explicitly requires it by >contract. However this may be a reduced size document containing only those >portions that are specifically related to the safe installation, operation, >maintenance and disposal of the product. It is not required that you >translate sections like theory of operation, applications, sales literature, >etc. > >3) Additionally, when we certify a product through a notified body, in this >case LGA in Nurnberg Germany, the national public safety law requires a >manual in German. I suspect other nationalities within the EU have similar >requirements for certified products. > >This policy has been confirmed by our representative from LGA America. > >-doug > --------- This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list. To cancel your subscription, send mail to [email protected] with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the quotes). For help, send mail to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected] (the list administrators).
