Ethical issues in engineering design - 3TU.Centre for Ethics and ...

Ethical issues in engineering design
market. The New Approach combined with the goal of a free EU market implies
that all products will have to be covered by an EU directive eventually.
There are indeed various EU directives for a broad range of products among
which:
•Machinery 98/37/EC, covers all machinery with moving parts except the
machines that are covered by separate directives
•Low voltage equipment Directive 73/23/EC, covers all equipment with a
voltage between 50 and 1000 DC and 75 and 1500 AC with some
exceptions that are covered by other directives
•Lifts 95/16/EC
•Active Implantable Medical Devices 90/385/EC
•Toys 88/378/EC
EU directives have to be implemented in national law. It is, therefore, certain
that all EU countries will have national laws implementing the above directives.
All these directives refer to harmonised EU codes. If these codes, or national
codes if these harmonised codes are not available yet, are followed in design
processes then compliance with the directive can be assumed. The European
Committee for Standardization (CEN) is responsible for formulating the
harmonised codes. CEN has committees for formulating harmonised codes on
subjects ranging from chemistry to food, consumer products, construction,
transport and packaging [www.cenorm.be/cenorm/index.htm]. These are only
the EU codes. Every EU country also has its national codes for the subjects that
are not yet implemented in EU codes. So it is reasonable to expect that EU
directives, national legislation and codes exist for many products. This means
that on empirical grounds it can be concluded that in general in normal design
some form of regulative framework is available.
The availability of a regulative framework does not have to mean that all
elements of it are used in a design process. It is not legally required that
engineers design by codes. Designs, however, have to be certified and checked
before the products can obtain a CE mark. Designing by the codes is a way to
comply with the EU directives and to obtain the CE mark. Engineering
companies are free to use other design methods but they then have to supply the
relevant Notified Body with proof of conformity to EU directives. This is more
difficult than designing by codes and is not easily done. Besides this difficulty,
engineers adhere to codes because they think that using the codes is a way to
make good and safe designs. Experience has been gained in designing according
to codes and some of the codes will have been adapted and changed over
decades. Engineers do no lightly take the decision to deflect from the codes.
172