No L 100/30 Official Journal of the European Communities 19. 4. 94 DIRECTIVE 94/10/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL of 23 March 1994 materially amending for the second time Directive 83/189/EEC laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Articles 100A, 213 and 43 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (2), Acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 189B of the Treaty, Whereas in order to promote the smooth functioning of the internal market as much transparency as possible should be ensured as regards national initiatives for the establishment of technical standards or regulations by amending the procedure for the provision of information laid down in Directive 83/189/EEC (3); Whereas in order to remove barriers to the smooth functioning of the internal market the scope of the said Directive should be extended; Whereas in the light of past experience the procedure for notifying the work programmes of the national standardization bodies should be amended in order to define more clearly the information which has to be notified and to make the procedure more flexible and less cumbersome; Whereas systematic notification is actually necessary only in the case of new subjects for standardization and in so far as the treatment of these subjects at national level may give rise to differences in national standards which are liable to disturb the functioning of the market as a result; whereas any subsequent notification or communication relating to the progress of national activities must depend on the interest in such activities expressed by those to whom this new subject has already been communicated; Whereas the Commission must nevertheless be able to request the communication of all or part of the national standardization programmes so that it can review the development of standardization activity in particular economic sectors; 1 (') OJ No C 340, 23. 12. 1992, p. 7. (%) OJ No C 201, 26. 7. 1993, p. 11. () OJ No L 109, 26. 4. 1983, p. 8. Directive as last amended by Decision 92/400/EEC (O] No L 221, 6. 8. 1992, p. 55). Whereas the European standardization system must be organized by and for the parties concerned, on a basis of coherence,  transparency,  openness,  consensus, independence of special interests, efficiency and decision-making based on national representation; Whereas the functioning of standardization in the Community must be based on fundamental rights for the national standardization bodies, such as the possibility of obtaining draft standards, being informed of the action taken in response to comments submitted, being associated with national standardization activities or requesting the preparation of European standards in place of national standards; whereas it is for the Member States to take the appropriate measures in their power to ensure that their standardization bodies observe these rights; Whereas the provisions contained in Directive 83/189/EEC concerning the standstill arrangements applicable to national standardization bodies when a European standard is in preparation must be brought into line with the relevant provisions adopted by the standardization bodies within the framework of the European standardization bodies; Whereas, as far as technical regulations for products are concerned, the measures designed to ensure the proper functioning or the continued development of the market include greater transparency of national intentions and a broadening of the criteria and conditions for assessing the potential effect of the proposed regulations on the market; Whereas it is therefore necessary to assess all the requirements laid down in respect of a product and to take account of developments in national practices for the regulation of products; Whereas  requirements, other  than  technical specifications, referring to the life cycle of a product after it has been placed on the market are liable to affect the free movement of that product or to create obstacles to the proper functioning of the internal market; Whereas the implementation of Directive 83/189/EEC has revealed the need to clarify the concept of a de facto technical regulation; whereas, in particular, the provisions by which the public authority refers to technical specifications or other requirements, or encourages the observance thereof, and the provisions referring to products with which the public authority is associated, in the public interest, have the effect of conferring on such requirements or specifications a more binding value than they would otherwise have by virtue of their private origin