proposal for a directive of the european parliament and of the council on the harmonisation of the laws of the member states relating to making available on the market of pressure equipment com 2013 471 final 167 pages in english . the proposal intends to align directive 97 23 ec on pressure equipment to the goods package adopted in 2008 and in particular to decision no 768 2008 ec establishing a common framework for the marketing of products. it also intends to align directive 97 23 ec to regulation ec no 1272 2008 of the european parliament and of the council of 16 september 2008 on classification labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures. in this context the proposal modifies a number of definitions which are commonly used throughout union harmonisation legislation in order to harmonise their meaning throughout that legislation. it clarifies the obligations of manufacturers and authorised representatives and introduces obligations for importers and distributors. the proposal reinforces the notification criteria for conformity assessment bodies and revises the existing safeguard clause procedure in line with the provisions of decision no 768 2008 ec. directive 97 23 ec has selected the appropriate conformity assessment procedures which manufacturers have to apply in order to demonstrate that their pressure equipment complies with the essential requirements. the proposal aligns these procedures to their updated versions set out in the decision no 768 2008 ec. regulation ec no 1272 2008 which implements within the european union the globally harmonised system of classification and labelling of chemicals ghs that has been adopted at international level within the structure of the united nations. directive 97 23 ec provides in article 9 for a classification of pressure equipment in categories according to the ascending level of risk due to pressure. the classification of the equipment is mainly based on the total energetic content pressure and volume of the equipment but is also influenced by the classification dangerous or not of the fluid it contains. the classification of pressure equipment into categories is directly related to the conformity assessment procedure applied in order to verify the conformity of the equipment to the essential requirements of the directive. however the classification of the fluids contained in the equipment for the purposes of its classification is based on council directive 67 548 eec of 27 june 1967 on the approximation of the laws regulations and administrative provisions relating to the classification packaging and labelling of dangerous substances. according to regulation ec no 1272 2008 directive 67 548 eec will be repealed on 1 june 2015 and replaced by the regulation. the regulation introduces new hazard classes and categories only partially corresponding to those used under the current provisions. the fluid classification criteria of directive 97 23 ec must therefore be aligned to the classification criteria of regulation ec no 1272 2008 until 1 june 2015.