S L O V A K I A

Since the 5 th meeting of CEFTA: Important changes have taken place in the Slovak Republic in the following areas: a/ further EC directives have been integrated into our legal system, b/ the Slovak Republic has officially signed PECA, c/ a second amendment to the Act on Technical Requirements for Products and on Conformity Assessment (no. 264/1999 Coll. in the wording of Act no. 436/2001 Coll.) is being prepared.

Further New Approach directives have been implemented in the legal system of the Slovak Republic. These are mainly the following government ordinances (in abbreviated form):  equipment for cableway passenger transport  noise emissions from equipment used outdoors,  pressure equipment,  electric fluorescent lighting. Changes and amendments have been made to 16 government ordinances.

The present state of PECA on 29th July 2002 the President of the Office of Standards, Metrology and Testing of the Slovak Republic with a mandate from the government of the SR initialled the Protocol in conclusion of the technical negotiations and on 26 th February 2003 he signed PECA on behalf of the President of the Slovak Republic.

At the present time the ratification process is taking place in parliament, then the ratification process will continue with the signature of the President of the Slovak Republic and the announcement to the EU Commission in the form of a diplomatic note through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic.

5 government ordinances which will be a part of PECA Machinery 98/37/EC, 98/79/EC Low voltage electrical equipment 73/23/EEC, 93/68/EEC Electromagnetic compatibility 89/336/EEC, 92/31/EEC, 93/68/EEC Personal proetctiv equipment 89/686/EEC, 93/68/EEC, 93/95/EEC, 96/58/EC Equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres (ATEX) 94/9/EC 8 notified bodies authorised in the SR

To increase the number of government ordinances included in PECA, with the assumption that negotiations will start in September The offer of the Slovak Republic concerns the following government ordinances: 1.simple pressure vessels, 2.pressure equipment, 3.medical devices, 4.radio and telecommunication equipment, 5.lifts, 6.electric refrigerators and freezers, 7.gas appliances, 8.hot-water boilers.

Changes to certain parts of Act no. 264/1999 Coll. on technical requirements for products and on conformity assessment and on the change of some acts in the wording of Act no. 436/2001 Coll. (hereinafter "Act on Conformity"). Into force from 1. November 2001

These changes mainly concern:  the definition of a product, which has extended the activity of "putting into operation", thus enabling surveillance bodies to inspect products even in manufacturing companies (§ 2),  the introduction of the term "notified body", which is necessary for the activities in accordance with PECA (§ 2),  the broadening of the term "technical regulation" to include codices and services (§ 4),  the precise definition of the term "harmonised Slovak technical standard" in relation to the European communities' harmonised European standards and directives (§ 5,(5)),

 amendments to the use of "national technical standards" according to approaches used in the European communities (§ 5,(6)),  restriction of § 9, which made it possible for the Office of Standards, Metrology and Testing of the SR to determine that for a certain determined product a different procedures for conformity assessment (or none) is applied, in such a way that this article does not apply to products which come under PECA (§ 9),  increasing the distributor's responsibility in that he may only distribute such a product for which the manufacturer, authorised representative or importer has issued a declaration of conformity (§ 10),  increasing the responsibility of the Office for notification (§ 11),

 giving priority to the marking of a product with the CE mark (§ 13).