Tom As I see it:
The term "approximation" is used in respect of the process of the alignment of the member countries' national legislations with a specific Directive, as the Commission and Parliament do not generally like to dictate exactly how the former shall be worded (although I believe that they can if they issue a "Regulation" rather than a "Directive")- and most EU countries would object very strongly indeed if they tried to do so unneccessarily!. Since none (or at least, very few) of the national legislative texts - or even their legal systems - are identical to each other or to the Directives, then the term "approximation" is appropriate since the same end-goal is achieved by legislation worded in a variety of ways. However, the concept of standards is generally that they shall be "standard" in both the end-goals AND the wording to avoid possible differences in interpretation. Therefore since most people would not want to refer to these as "standardized standards", then "harmonization" (signifying everyone in harmony) seems as good an alternative term as any other - particularly when its use is restricted to those listed in the OJ as means of demonstrating compliance to New Approach Directives. Any help to you? John Allen, Technical Consultant EMC and Safety Engineering ERA Technology Ltd. Cleeve Road Leatherhead Surrey KT22 7SA UK Tel: +44-1372-367025 (Direct) +44-1372-367000 (Switchboard) Fax: +44-1372-367102 Please take a minute to visit my recently updated (Sept 04) web pages at http://www.era.co.uk/services/rcm.asp and the main ERA Website at http://www.era.co.uk -----Original Message----- From: T.Sato [ mailto:vef00...@nifty.ne.jp] Sent: 15 February 2005 11:53 To: emc-p...@ieee.org Subject: difference of "harmonization" and "approximation" Group, We frequencty see the terms "harmonization" and "approximation" are used, for example in European Directives. I think those terms are used with similar but not identical meanings in the context such as "harmonization (approximation) of the laws", but the difference of "harmonization" and "approximation" is not clear enough for me. Can anybody explain me what is the difference of "harmonization" and "approximation", especially when they are used in European Directives? Regards, Tom -------------------------------------------------- Tomonori Sato <vef00...@nifty.ne.jp> URL: http://homepage3.nifty.com/tsato/ ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to emc-p...@ieee.org Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/listserv/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas emcp...@ptcnh.net Mike Cantwell mcantw...@ieee.org For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc _____________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned for viruses by MCI's Internet Managed Scanning Services - powered by MessageLabs. For further information visit http://www.mci.com ********************************************************************** Copyright ERA Technology Ltd. 2005. (www.era.co.uk). All rights reserved. The information supplied in this Commercial Communication should be treated in confidence. No liability whatsoever is accepted for any loss or damage suffered as a result of accessing this message or any attachments. ********************************************************************** _____________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned for viruses by MCI's Internet Managed Scanning Services - powered by MessageLabs. For further information visit http://www.mci.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to emc-p...@ieee.org Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/listserv/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas emcp...@ptcnh.net Mike Cantwell mcantw...@ieee.org For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org Jim Bacher: j.bac...@ieee.org All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc