Codes of conduct however are not an alternative to national, European Union and international laws and binding rules: binding rules ensure minimum standards applicable to all, while codes of conduct and other voluntary initiatives can only complement these and promote higher standards for those who subscribe to them.

However, this does not properly reflect the binding character of the directive's standards: for example, the legislation speaks of improvement rather than compliance and the criterion of "as soon as practicable" is not satisfactory for standards which became obligatory in 1985 and which have a serious public health dimension.

This is all the more important since the procedure on enhanced cooperation was compulsory, if at least eight Member States were participating.

These technical specifications are not mandatory and retain their status of voluntary standards.

- these technical specifications are not mandatory and maintain their status of voluntary standards,

The plan rests on the following four fundamental principles : - harmonization of legislation is limited to the adoption of the essential safety requirements (or other requirements in the public interest) to which all products placed on the market must conform in order to benefit from freedom of movement within the Community. - the competent industrial standardization bodies will be allotted the task of drawing up, with due regard to technological developments, of the technical specifications that industry needs in order to produce and market products conforming to the essential requirements laid down by the directives; - the technical specifications will in no way be mandatory but will retain the status of voluntary standards ...[+++]; - at the same time however, governments are obliged to recognise products manufactured in accordance with the harmonized standards (or, provisionally, national standards) as conforming to the "essential requirements" laid down by the relevant directive -which means that the manufacturer may opt to produce goods which do not conform to the stadard, though in that case the onus of proof that his products conform to the essential requirements of the directive is on him).