Regulation (EU) 2018/858 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 68 Designation of technical services

1. The type-approval authorities shall designate technical services for one or more of the following categories of activities, depending on their field of competence:

(a) category A: tests referred to in this Regulation and in the regulatory acts listed in Annex II that technical services carry out in their own facilities;

(b) category B: the supervision of the tests, which includes test preparation, referred to in this Regulation and in the regulatory acts listed in Annex II, where such tests are performed at the manufacturer's facilities or at the facilities of a third party;

(c) category C: the assessment and monitoring on a regular basis of the procedures of the manufacturer for controlling the conformity of production;

(d) category D: the supervision or performance of tests or inspections for the surveillance of the conformity of production.

2. Each Member State may designate a type-approval authority as a technical service for one or more of the categories of activities referred to in paragraph 1.

3. A technical service shall be established under the law of a Member State and have legal personality, except for a technical service belonging to a type-approval authority and except for an accredited in-house technical service of the manufacturer, as referred to in Article 72.

4. A technical service shall take out liability insurance for its activities, unless such liability is assumed by its Member State in accordance with national law, or unless the Member State itself is directly responsible for the conformity assessment.

5. Technical services of a third country, other than those that have been designated in accordance with Article 72, may only be designated and may only be notified to the Commission for the purposes of Article 74 where a bilateral agreement between the Union and the third country concerned provides for the possibility of designating such technical services. This shall not prevent a technical service that is established under the law of a Member State in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article from establishing subsidiaries in third countries, provided that those subsidiaries are directly managed and controlled by the designated technical service.