Rechtliche Würdigung der Empfehlungen und Leitlinien des ...

– They can positively list those technical standards, whose fulfilment implies the
fulfilment of the legal binding standard.
5. Because the state relinquishes some of its legislative power to private bodies and because
of the great factual impact of technical standards on the market position of enterprises as
well as on the protection of workers, consumers and the environment the following
minimal procedural requirements must be met:
– The relevant expertise must be comprehensively represented within the norm finding
committees.
– All affected interest groups must be represented in a balanced manner.
– The public must have the opportunity to influence the contents of the evolving
technical standards.
– Technical standards must be revised in regular intervals.
– Binding procedural rules must be defined.
Generally Acknowledged Technical Standards, Standard of Technology, Standard of
Science and Technology
6. The choice between the three prevailing general clauses (generally acknowledged
technical standards, standard of technology and standard of science and technology)
influences the delay between technical or scientific development and its legal reception.
7. Generally acknowledged technical standards and acknowledged technical standards
(these terms are synonymous) are technical requirements for procedures, installations and
operating conditions that
– [according to the prevailing opinion of the participating parts of society (experts,
users, consumers and public authorities)] are appropriate to reach the legal aim,
– consider economic aspects among broader considerations on proportionality,
– have proven themselves in practice, or that, according to the predominant view, will
prove themselves in near future.
8. The general clause ‘generally acknowledged technical standards’ (GATS) forms the traditional
set of requirements and is used in cases of relatively small potentials of danger.
Usually one can have recourse to an existing standard. The reference point of GATS is
not the innovative behaviour of few actors but that of a broad range of ‘normal users’.
Technical norms define minimal standards that can be broadly and comprehensively put
into practice. Therefore, they consider economic interests, practical conditions and the
addressees’ qualification.
9. GATS can develop further independently and leave formalized, written standards behind.
Written standards do not necessarily correspond to the current technological knowledge,
and sometimes they contain rules that will or have not proven themselves. Codified
technical standards that are not revised regularly can become obsolete and thus cannot be
regarded as GATS any more.
10. In cases where plants, devices or substances show a complex potential for risks and
where the knowledge and procedures to estimate and handle the risk are subject to a
continuous revision process, legislators refer to the more demanding standard of
technology. The procedures, installations and operatinmg conditions need not have
proven themselves. Yet, recourse to comparable techniques that have already been tested
shall be taken to determine this standard. Therefore this standard is moved from the
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