No L 344/24 Official Journal of the European Communities 6. 12. 86 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COUNCIL COUNCIL DIRECTIVE of 1 December 1986 on airborne noise emitted by household appliances (86/594/EEC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 100 thereof, . Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parli- ament (%), " Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (3), ' Whereas the European Communities’ 1973 (*) and 1977 (9 action programmes on the environment highlight the importance of the problem of noise pollution and, in " particular, the need to take action with regard to the source of the noise; Whereas the public should be informed, in a way which is as readily understandable and uniform as possible, of the level of noise emitted by household appliances; whereas accurate, pertinent and comparable information may serve to guide the public towards selecting less noisy household appliances ; whereas manufacturers will then be driven, as a result, to take measures to reduce the sound emissions of the household appliances they manu- facture ; Whereas, for practical reasons and in order to avoid the appearance of a profusion of labels on household appli- ances, information on noise level should be included on the label provided for by the implementing Directives adopted under Council Directive 79/530/EEC of 14 May 1979 on the indication by labelling of the energy (") OJ No C 181, 19. 7. 1982, p. 1 and OJ No C 334, 10. 12. 1983, p. 15. ' () OJ No C 277, 17. 10. 1983, p. 166. () OJ No C 205, 9. 8. 1982, p. 13. () O] No C 112, 20. 12. 1973, p. 3. () O] No C 139, 13. 6. 1977, p. 3. consumption of household appliances () where the same family of household appliance is concerned; Whereas, in the present case, legislative harmonization must be confined to those requirements necessary to measure the airborne noise emitted by household appliances and to carry out checks on the declared level ; whereas such requirements must replace the national provisions in this field ; Whereas this Directive defines only the requirements strictly necessary ; whereas it will be presumed that these requirements are complied with as long as the harmo- nized standards are applied ; whereas it is therefore indis- pensable to have available these standards concerning the measurement and checking of the declared level of airtborne noise emitted by household appliances while they are being operated ; Whereas the Comité européen de normalisation (CEN) (European Standardization Committee) and the Comité européen de normalisation électrotechnique (CENELEC) (European Electrotechnical Standardization Committee) are acknowledged to be the bodies competent to lay down and adopt the harmonized standards (European standards or harmonization documents), on instruction from the Commission, in accordance with Council Directive 83/189/EEC of 28 March 1983 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations () and with general guidelines for cooperation between the Commission and both these bodies, signed on 13 November 1984 ; Whereas, pending adoption of harmonized standards, free circulation of goods will be assured by the acceptance of - products which comply with national standards and tech- nical regulations which are recognized, by means of a monitoring procedure, as satisfying the requirements of this Directive ; () OJ No L 145, 13. 6. 1979, p. 1. () OJ No L 109, 26. 4. 1983, p. 8.