INF.

50

ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE

INLAND TRANSPORT COMMITTEE

Working Party on the Transport of Dangerous Goods

Joint Meeting of the RID Committee of Experts and the

Working Party on the Transport of Dangerous Goods

Geneva, 11-21 September 2007

Item 6(a) of the provisional agenda

PROPOSALS FOR AMENDMENTS TO RID/ADR/ADN

Pending issues

Inspection body of type C

Transmitted by the Government of Sweden

SUMMARY

Executive summary: The document 2007/48 from the United Kingdom contains a
proposal to adopt a modification of the type B bodies into the
RID/ADR.

If the proposal from UK is adopted into the RID/ADR, the RID/ADR

will have a unique type of body deviating from the rest of the world.

Action to be taken: To preserve the existing types of bodies in the EN ISO/IEC

17020:2004 applied in the rest of the world, in all other industrial
areas performing inspection.

Proposal: Please see ECE/TRANS/WP.15/AC.1/2007/46 as this is only an

informal document.

Related documents: ECE/TRANS/WP.15/AC.1/2007/46

ECE/TRANS/WP.15/AC.1/2007/48
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Introduction

Part 1
The United Kingdom has in document 2007/48 supported the principle that type C bodies are
not included in the Directive 99/36/EC (TPED) and should therefore be deleted from the
RID/ADR, which is fully in line with document 2007/46 from Sweden which makes us very
pleased.

The document 2007/48 from the UK also contains a proposal to adopt a modification of the
description of bodies of type B into the RID/ADR.

Sweden would like to draw the attention of Joint Meeting, to that there exist an international
covering guidance document on the application of the standard EN ISO/IEC 17020:2004.
In this guidance document the different types of bodies are described in part 4, please see
Annex 1.

The Guidance document ILAC/IAF A4: Guidance on the Application of ISO/IEC 17020, is
accepted by the: European Co-operation for Accreditations (EA), International Laboratory
Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and International Accreditation Forum, Inc (IAF).

Since the standard EN ISO/IEC 17020:2004 and the developed guidance document ILAC/IAF
A4 is accepted and applied in the rest of the world and in all other industrial areas performing
inspection, Sweden finds the proposal from United Kingdom very inappropriate.

The only logical action to take in this question is to adopt and use the existing international
accepted definitions.

If the proposal from the UK is adopted into the RID/ADR, the RID/ADR will have a unique
type of inspection body deviating from the rest of the world.

This modified inspection body will not fulfil the requirements of EN ISO/IEC 17020:2004 as
a body of type B.

But it will correspond with the requirements of the type C body according to EN ISO/IEC
17020:2004. The type C bodies are not included in the TPED.

Part 2
As the UK have illustrated, there are differences between the texts in TPED and EN ISO/IEC
17020:2004 (which is a carbon copy of the earlier EN 45004:1995) for the type B bodies.

We would like to point out that these differences also exist in Annex I (Minimum criteria to
be met by notified or approved bodies) and Annex II (Supplementary Criteria to be met by
Notified Bodies) of the TPED compared with the text in the standard EN ISO/IEC
17020:2004.

In Annex II to this informal document a broader table comparing the Annex I, II and III of the
TPED with the standard EN ISO/IEC 17020:2004 is presented. (In 2007/48 only Annex II is
compared with standard EN ISO/IEC 17020:2004.)
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The European Commission submitted on 9 January 1997 The Proposal for a Council
Directive on transportable pressure equipment (97/C95/02) COM(96) 674 final -
97/0011(SYN). This proposal comprised the type C bodies, which later were removed by the
Council; please see INF.4 to this Joint Meeting. In the text of the proposal it is clearer how the
Commission pointed out these three types of bodies.

But the adopted TPED comprises only two types of bodies.

In Annex III to this informal document the differences between the Commissions proposal
from 9 January 1997 and the adopted TPED are illustrated.

Part 3
Under point 9 (a) and (b) in document 2007/48, the UK have described problems with bodies
not conforming to type B.

If these bodies form a demonstrably separate and identifiable part of an organisation, which
should be possible to achieve without considerable problems and another part of the
organisation is involved in the design, manufacture, supply, installation, use or maintenance
of items that they inspect, for example filling of the pressure receptacle, the inspection body
should be able to conform to type B and also be in line with the Guidance document
ILAC/IAF A4, see first part of 4.2.2a also inserted below.

4.2.2a The two characteristics by which inspection bodies can be identified as

Type B inspection bodies are the following:

 Type B inspection bodies form a demonstrably separate and

identifiable part of an organisation that is involved in the design,
manufacture, supply, installation, use or maintenance of items that
they inspect;

Sweden cannot therefore understand the problem described by UK.

Justification
Please see ECE/TRANS/WP.15/AC.1/2007/46.

Proposal
Please see ECE/TRANS/WP.15/AC.1/2007/46 as this is only an informal document.
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Annex I

This information comes from the EA, European Co-operation for Accreditations webpage,
http://www.european-accreditation.org. On their webpage a number of publications are to be
found and they are categorised to give an indication on how to apply the document.

The Category 2 is the EA MLA support documents. EA MLA support documents are
documents of a horizontal nature that support the application of the standards used for
accreditation. These documents must be implemented by EA member accreditation bodies for
use in their accreditation systems. Their implementation will be assessed as part of the EA
MLA peer evaluation process. At
http://www.european-accreditation.org/content/publications/pub.htm the Application
documents for Inspection Series 5 is to be found.

The document EA 5/01 (rev03) Category 2 has been withdrawn. The EA Guidance on the
Application on the EN 45004 is replaced by ILAC/IAF A4: Guidance on the Application of
ISO/IEC 17020. Please download the document at www.ilac.org or at iaf.nu.

ILAC/IAF A4: Guidance on the Application of ISO/IEC 17020 is to be found at;

ILAC, International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation,

http://www.ilac.org/documents/IAF-ILAC-A4_2004_guidance_on_the_application_of_ISO-
IEC_17020.pdf or at IAF, International Accreditation Forum, Inc.
http://www.compad.com.au/cms/iaf/workstation/upFiles/600630.IAF-ILAC-
A4_2004_guidance_on_the_application_of_ISO-IEC_17020_2007-04.pdf

The following text is from the IAF/ILAC-A4:2004, Guidance on the Application of ISO/IEC
17020.

4. Independence, Impartiality and Integrity

4.1a Procedures should be documented to assure inspection body staff are free from
commercial, financial or other pressures which might affect their judgement.

4.2a The categorisation of inspection bodies as Type A, B or C is essentially a

measure of their independence. Demonstrable independence of an inspection
body may strengthen the confidence of the inspection body’s customers in the
body’s ability to carry out inspection work with impartiality and objectivity. The
terms first party and second party, as defined in ISO/IEC Guide 2, are not used
in ISO/IEC 17020, because application of them would not be helpful. However,
since conventional thinking has been in terms of first, second or third parties for
many years, it is necessary to offer some explanation on the relationship between
the two sets of categories, as included below.

4.2.1 a A Type A Inspection Body, to claim to be independent of the parties

involved, shall demonstrate that it is not linked to a party directly
involved in design, manufacture, supply, installation, purchase,
ownership, use or maintenance of the items inspected or similar
competitive items by
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 common ownership (except where the owners have no ability to
influence the outcome of an inspection), Note 1

 common ownership appointees on the boards (or equivalent) of the

organisations (except where these have functions that have no
influence on the outcome of an inspection) Note 2

 directly reporting to the same higher level of management

 contractual arrangements, informal understandings or other means

that may have an ability to influence the outcome of an inspection

In addition to the above, an Inspection Body shall not become a Type A

Inspection Body if another part of the same organisation is directly
involved in design, manufacture, supply, installation, purchase,
ownership, use or maintenance of the items inspected or similar
competitive items, when such other parts of the organisation do not
have a separate legal identity.

The Chief Executive of the legal entity of which the Inspection Body is
a part shall define and document its policy for maintaining the Type A
status of the Inspection Body. The Accreditation Body will examine the
evidence of implementation of this policy in respect of ownership
interests, constitution of board of directors, means of financing,
decision making methods and other such factors that may have an
influence on the impartiality, independence and integrity of a Type A
Inspection Body.

Note 1: An example of this is a cooperative type of structure where

there are large numbers of stakeholders but they (individually or as a
group) have no formal means of influencing the policies, strategies or
operation of the inspection body.

Note2: An example of this is where a bank financing a company may

insist on an appointee to the board to overview how the company is
managed but will not be involved in any decision-making.

4.2.2a The two characteristics by which inspection bodies can be identified as

Type B inspection bodies are the following:

 Type B inspection bodies form a demonstrably separate and

identifiable part of an organisation that is involved in the design,
manufacture, supply, installation, use or maintenance of items that
they inspect;

 Type B inspection bodies supply inspection services only to their

parent organisation.

A Type B inspection body may form a part of a user organisation or of

a supplier organisation.
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When a Type B inspection body that forms a part of a supplier

organisation inspects items that are manufactured by or for its parent
organisation and are to be supplied to the market or to any other party,
it carries out first party inspection.

When a Type B inspection body that forms a part of a user organisation

inspects items to be supplied for use by its parent organisation by a
supplier organisation that is not its parent organisation and not related
to it, it carries out second party inspection.

4.2.3a Type C inspection bodies are involved, in the design, manufacture,

supply, installation, use or maintenance of items that they inspect.
Inspections carried out by them may include first party inspections and
second party inspections of the same type as carried out by Type B
bodies. However, Type C inspection bodies are distinct from Type B
inspection bodies for the following reasons:

A Type C inspection body need not be a separate part but shall be

identifiable within the organisation. A Type C body may itself be the
designer, manufacturer, supplier, installer, user or maintainer of items
that it inspects.

A Type C inspection body may offer its inspection service on the open
market or to any other party and supply inspection service to external
organisations. For example, it may inspect products supplied by it or by
its parent organisation and used by another organisation. It may also
supply other organisations with inspection of items that are similar to
those designed, manufactured, supplied, installed, used or maintained
by it or by its parent organisation, and which may therefore be regarded
as competitive.

Inspections carried out by Type C inspection bodies cannot be

classified as third party inspections because they do not meet the
requirements of independence of operations as stipulated for Type A
inspection bodies in Annex A of ISO/IEC 17020. Type C inspection
bodies may conform to some of the criteria concerning independence of
other economic operators, non-involvement in ‘conflicting” activities
and non-discriminatory operations that characterise Type A and Type B
inspection bodies. Yet they remain Type C inspection bodies as long as
they do not meet all of the requirements applicable to Type A or
Type B inspection bodies.

The design/manufacture/supply/installation/servicing/maintenance and

the inspection of an entity carried out by a Type C inspection body
should not be undertaken by the same person. An exception to this is
where a regulatory or other authoritative requirement explicitly allows
an individual person from a Type C inspection body to undertake both
the design/manufacture/supply/installation/servicing/maintenance and
the inspection of an entity.
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Annex II

There are differences in the annexes of the TPED compared with the text in the EN ISO/IEC
17020:2004 not only in Annex III regarding the approved bodies (type B). See the following
table, which covers Annex I, II and III of the TPED.

Annex I Requirements in ISO 17020:2005

Minimum criteria to be met by notified or
approved bodies
1. 3.2
A notified inspection body or an approved An inspection body that is part of an
inspection body that is part of an organisation involved in functions other than
organisation involved in functions other than inspection shall be identifiable within that
inspection must be identifiable within that organisation.
organisation.
2. A2 & B.2 (first sentence)
The inspection body and its staff must not The inspection body and its staff shall not
engage in any activities that may conflict engage in any activities that may conflict
with their independence of judgment and with their independence of judgement and
integrity in relation to their inspection integrity in relation to their inspections
activities. activities.
4.1
In particular the staff of the inspection body The personal of the inspection body shall be
must be free from any commercial, financial free from any commercial, financial and
and other pressures which might affect their other pressures which might affect their
judgment, particularly from persons or judgment.
organisations external to the inspection body
with an interest in the results of inspections Procedures shall be implemented to ensure
carried out. that persons or organizations external to the
inspection body, cannot influence the result
The impartiality of the inspection staff of the of inspections carried out.
body must be guaranteed.
3. 9.1
The inspection body must have at its The inspection body shall have available to
disposal the necessary staff and possess the it suitable and adequate facilities and
necessary facilities to enable it to perform equipment to permit all activities associated
the technical and administrative tasks with the inspection services to be carried
connected with the inspection and out.
verification operations properly.
It must also have access to the equipment
required to perform special verifications.
4. 8.2 (first sentence)
The staff of the inspection body who are The staff responsible for inspection shall
responsible for inspection must have have appropriate qualifications, training,
appropriate qualifications, sound technical experience and a satisfactory knowledge of
and vocational training and a satisfactory the requirements of the inspections to be
knowledge of the requirements of the carried out.
inspections to be carried out and adequate
experience of such operations.
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8.1
In order to guarantee a high level of safety The inspection body shall have a sufficient
the inspection body must be in a position to numbers of permanent personnel with the
provide expertise in the field of safety of range of expertise to carry out its normal
transportable pressure equipment. functions.

8.2 (second sentence)

The staff must have the ability to make They shall have the ability to make
professional judgments as to conformity professional judgments as to conformity
with general requirements using with general requirements using
examination results and to report thereon. examination results and to report thereon.

8.1
They must also have the ability required to The inspection body shall have a sufficient
draw up the certificates, records and reports numbers of permanent personnel with the
to demonstrate that the inspections have range of expertise to carry out its normal
been carried out. functions.
5. 8.2 (third sentence)
They must also have relevant knowledge of They shall also have relevant knowledge of
the technology used for the manufacturing the technology used for the manufacturing
of the transportable pressure equipment, of the products inspected, of the way in
including accessories, which they inspect, of which products or processes submitted to
the way in which the equipment submitted their inspections are used or are intended to
to their inspections is used or is intended to be used, and of the defects which may occur
be used, and of the defects which may occur during use or in service.
during use or in service.
6. 8.1
The inspection body and its staff must carry The inspection body shall have a sufficient
out the assessments and verifications with numbers of permanent personnel with the
the highest degree of professional integrity range of expertise to carry out its normal
and technical competence. functions.
5
The inspection body must ensure the The inspection body shall ensure
confidentiality of information obtained in confidentiality of information obtained in
the course of its inspection activities. the course of its inspection activities.

Proprietary rights must be protected. Proprietary rights shall be protected.

7. 8.6
The remuneration of persons engaged in The remuneration of persons engaged in
inspection activities must not directly inspection activities shall not directly
depend on the number of inspections carried depend on the number of inspections carried
out and in no case on the results of such out and in no case on the results of such
inspections. inspections.
8. 3.4
The inspection body must have adequate The inspection body shall have adequate
liability insurance unless its liability is liability insurance unless its liability is
assumed by the State in accordance with assumed by the State in accordance with
national laws or by the organisation of national laws or by the organization of
which it forms a part. which it forms a part.
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9. 14.1
The inspection body must itself normally The inspection body shall itself normally
perform the inspections which it contracts to perform the inspections which it contracts to
undertake. undertake.
14.2
When a inspection body sub-contracts any When an inspection body subcontracts any
part of the inspection, it must ensure and be part of the inspection, it shall ensure and be
able to demonstrate that its sub-contractor is able to demonstrate that its subcontractor is
competent to perform the service in question competent to perform the service in question
and must take full responsibility for that and where applicable complies with the
sub-contracting. criteria stipulated in the relevant standard of
the EN 45000 series. The subcontractor shall
be acceptable to the client.

TPED Annex II: Supplementary Criteria Requirements in ISO 17020 for Type A
to be met by Notified Bodies referred to in bodies;
Article 8 Clause 4.2.1 and Annex A
1. 4.2.1
A notified body must be independent of the The inspection body providing “third party”
parties involved and therefore provide ‘third shall meet the criteria of annex A
party’ inspection services. (normative).
A.1
The inspection body shall be independent of
the parties involved.

The notified body and its staff responsible The notified body, and its staff responsible
for carrying out the inspection must not be for carrying out the inspection shall not be
the designer, manufacturer, supplier, the designer, manufacturer, supplier,
purchaser, owner, holder, user or maintainer installer, purchaser, owner, user or
of the transportable pressure equipment, maintainer of the items which they inspect,
including accessories, which that body nor the authorised representative of any of
inspects, nor the authorised representative of these parties.
any of these parties.
A2.
They must not be directly involved in the The inspection body and its staff shall not
design, manufacture, marketing or engage in any activities that may conflict
maintenance of the transportable pressure with their independence of judgement and
equipment, including accessories, nor integrity in relation to their inspections
represent the parties engaged in these activities.
activities.
In particular they shall not become directly
involved in the design, manufacture, supply,
installation, use or maintenance of the items
inspected, or similar competitive items.

This does not preclude the possibility of

exchanges of technical information between
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the manufacturer of transportable pressure
equipment and the inspection body.
2. A.3
All interested parties must have access to the All interested parties shall have access to
services of the inspection body. There must the services of the inspection body. There
be no undue financial or other conditions. shall not be undue financial or other
The procedures under which the body conditions. The procedures under which the
operates must be administered in a non- body operates shall be administered in a
discriminatory manner. non-discriminatory manner.

TPED Annex III: Supplementary Criteria Requirements in ISO 17020:2005 for

to be met by Approved Bodies referred to Type B bodies;
in Article 9 Clause 4.2.2 and Annex B
1. 4.2.2
The approved body must form a separate and The inspection body which forms a separate
identifiable part of an organisation involved and identifiable part of an organization
in the design, manufacture, supply, use or involved in the design, manufacture,
maintenance of the items it inspects. supply, installation, use or maintenance of
the items it inspects and has been
established to supply inspection services to
its parent organization shall meet the
criteria of annex B (normative).
2. B.2
The approved body must not become directly The inspection body and its staff shall not
involved in the design, manufacture, supply engage in any activities that may conflict
or use of the transportable pressure with their independence of judgement and
equipment, including accessories inspected, integrity in relation to their inspection
or similar competitive items. activities.

In particular they shall not become directly

involved in the design, manufacture,
supply, installation, use or maintenance of
the items inspected, or similar competitive
items.
3. B.1
There must be a clear separation of the A clear separation of the responsibilities of
responsibilities of the inspection staff from the inspection personnel from those of the
those of the staff employed in other personnel employed in the other functions
functions, which must be established by shall be established by organizational
organisational identification and the identification and the reporting methods of
reporting methods of the inspection body the inspection body within the parent
within the parent organisation. organization.
B.3 Inspection services shall only be
supplied to the organization of which the
inspection body forms a part.
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Annex III

The following text shows the existing TPED compared with “The Proposal for a Council
Directive on transportable pressure equipment” submitted by the European Commission on 9
January 1997.

The COMMON POSITION adopted by the Council on the 30 November 1998 deleted bodies
of type C.

Council Directive on transportable Proposal for a Council Directive on

pressure equipment 99/36/EC transportable pressure equipment
(97/C95/02)
COM(96) 674 final - 97/0011(SYN)
(Submitted by the Commission on 9 January
1997)
Article 2 Article 2
Definitions For the purposes of this Directive:
For the purposes of this Directive:
1. ‘transportable pressure equipment’ - 'transportable pressure equipment` shall
means:……………………….. mean………………………..
5. ‘notified body’ means an inspection body - 'notified body or type A inspection body`
designated by the national competent shall mean a body designated by the national
authority of a Member State in accordance competent authority of a Member State in
with Article 8 and meeting the criteria of conformity with Article 5 and meeting the
Annexes I and II; criteria of Annexes I and II,
6. ‘approved body’ means an inspection body - 'type B inspection body` shall mean a body
designated by the national competent designated by the national competent
authority of a Member State in accordance authority of a Member State in conformity
with Article 9 and meeting the criteria of with Article 6 and meeting the criteria of
Annexes I and III. Annexes I and III,
- 'type C inspection body` shall mean a body
designated by the national competent
authority of a Member State in conformity
with Article 7 and meeting the criteria of
Annexes I and IV.