Free Movement
What are the requirements for free movement of my product within Europe?
DIRECTIVE 98/79/EC
(18 June 2009)
Article 1
Scope, definitions
(i) ‘placing on the market’ means the first making available in return for payment or free of charge of a device other than a device intended for performance evaluation with a view to distribution and/or use on the Community market, regardless of whether it is new or fully refurbished;
(j) ‘putting into service’ means the stage at which a device has been made available to the final user as being ready for use on the Community market for the first time for its intended purpose.
Article 2
Placing on the market and putting into service
Member States shall take all necessary steps to ensure that devices may be placed on the market and/or put into service only if they comply with the requirements laid down in this Directive when duly supplied and properly installed, maintained and used in accordance with their intended purpose. This involves the obligation of Member States to monitor the security and quality of these devices. This Article applies also to devices made available for performance evaluation.
Article 3
Essential requirements
Devices must meet the essential requirements set out in Annex I which apply to them, taking account of the intended purpose of the devices concerned.
Article 4
Free movement
1. Member States shall not create any obstacle to the placing on the market or the putting into service within their territory of devices bearing the CE marking provided for in Article 16 if these devices have undergone conformity assessment in accordance with Article 9.
2. Member States shall not create any obstacle to devices intended for performance evaluation being made available for that purpose to the laboratories or other institutions listed in the statement referred to in Annex VIII if they meet the conditions laid down in Article 9(4) and Annex VIII.
3. At trade fairs, exhibitions, demonstrations, scientific or technical gatherings, etc. Member States shall not create any obstacle to the showing of devices which do not conform to this Directive, provided that such devices are not used on specimens taken from the participants and that a visible sign clearly indicates that such devices cannot be marketed or put into service until they have been made to comply.
4. Member States may require the information to be supplied pursuant to Annex I, part B, section 8 to be in their official language(s) when a device reaches the final user.
Provided that safe and correct use of the device is ensured, Member States may authorise the information referred to in the first subparagraph to be in one or more other official Community language(s).
In the application of this provision, Member States shall take into account the principle of proportionality and, in particular:
(a) whether the information can be supplied by harmonised symbols or recognised codes or other measures;
(b) the type of user anticipated for the device.
5. Where the devices are subject to other directives concerning other aspects which also provide for the affixing of the CE marking, the latter shall indicate that the devices also fulfil the provisions of the other directives.
However, should one or more of these directives allow the manufacturer, during a transitional period, to choose which arrangements to apply, the CE marking shall indicate that the devices fulfil the provisions only of those directives applied by the manufacturer. In this case, the particulars of these directives, as published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, must be given in the documents, notices or instructions required by the directives and accompanying such devices.