(1)

In accordance with Article 16 of Directive 2013/29/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (2), pyrotechnic articles that are in conformity with the relevant harmonised standards or the relevant parts thereof, the references of which have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, are to be presumed to be in conformity with the essential safety requirements set out in Annex I to that Directive.

(2)

On 14 August 2007, the Commission issued standardisation request M/416 to support Directive 2007/23/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) to the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). In that request, the Commission invited CEN to draw up fireworks standards containing, among others, a list of articles falling under category P1 (pyrotechnic articles, other than fireworks and theatrical pyrotechnic articles, which present a low hazard), a list of articles which do not fall under that category as well as a procedure or criteria which determine which article falls under category P1. References to the standards adopted by CEN in response to that request were published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 12 May 2017 by means of Commission Communication 2017/C 149/01 (4), which replaced all the previous lists published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

(3)

By Commission Implementing Decision C(2022) 3011 (5) the Commission made a request to CEN for the revision of existing harmonised standards on pyrotechnic articles in support of Directive 2013/29/EU, which replaced and repealed Directive 2007/23/EC. In accordance with that Implementing Decision the standardisation mandate M/416 expired on 13 June 2022.

(4)

CEN revised the harmonised standards EN 15947-1:2015, EN 15947-2:2015, EN 15947-3:2015, EN 15947-4:2015 and EN 15947-5:2015, still on the basis of the standardisation mandate M/416 and adopted the new standards series EN 15947:2022, parts 1 to 5, on 5 October 2022. Those new standards superseded EN 15947:2015 series (parts 1 to 5). However, only parts 2 to 5 of the EN 15947:2022 series were submitted by CEN to the Commission for citation in the Official Journal of the European Union, as part 1 containing definitions of terminology, was considered not to be part of the presumption of conformity with any of the essential safety requirements of Directive 2013/29/EU.

(5)

By letter of 21 November 2023, the Commission informed CEN about its intention not to reference in the Official Journal of the European Union the standards EN 15947-2:2022, EN 15947-3:2022, EN 15947-4:2022 and EN 15947-5:2022, due to the fact that those standards do not satisfy the requirements set out in the standardisation request of Implementing Decision C(2022) 3011 and therefore do not implement the relevant essential safety requirements laid down in Directive 2013/29/EU.

(6)

Given that CEN considers the standards EN 15947-2:2022, EN 15947-3:2022, EN 15947-4:2022 and EN 15947-5:2022 to supersede the existing, currently cited standards (EN 15947-2:2015, EN 15947-3:2015, EN 15947-4:2015 and EN 15947-5:2015) those standards cannot be considered any longer to represent the state of the art and to satisfy the relevant essential safety requirements, also against the background that CEN confirmed its inability to develop and submit new standards in the near future. It is therefore necessary to withdraw the references to harmonised standards series EN 15947:2015 from the Official Journal of the European Union, as those standards have been revised by CEN and superseded by standards series EN 15947:2022.

(7)

As the definitions of terminology provided in the standards EN ISO 14451-1:2013, EN 15947-1:2015, EN 16256-1:2012 and EN 16261-1:2012, do not support any of the essential safety requirements laid down in Directive 2013/29/EU, it is therefore necessary to withdraw the references to those harmonised standards from the Official Journal of the European Union.

(8)

In the interests of clarity and transparency, a new complete list of references to harmonised standards adopted in support of Directive 2013/29/EU and satisfying the requirements they aim to cover should be published in a single act.

(9)

It is therefore appropriate to repeal Communication 2017/C 149/01.

(10)

Compliance with a harmonised standard confers a presumption of conformity with the corresponding essential requirements set out in Union harmonisation legislation from the date of publication of the reference of such standard in the Official Journal of the European Union. This Decision should therefore enter into force on the date of its publication.

(11)

The harmonised standards adopted in response to the standardisation requests may be subject to access to documents requests in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6). In its judgement of 5 March 2024 in Case C-588/21 P (7), Public.Resource.Org and Right to Know v Commission and Others, the Court recognised that there is an overriding public interest, within the meaning of Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, justifying the disclosure of harmonised standards,