d1e1976-1-1__para__5
Products which have been repaired (for example following a defect), without being considered as new products do not need to undergo conformity assessment again, whether or not the original product was placed on the market before or after the legislation entered into force. This applies even if the product has been temporarily exported to a third county for the repair operations. For certain products, manufacturers are required to provide spare parts to other third parties to perform the repairs, and for a certain minimum period of time (39). Such repair operations are often carried out by replacing a defective or worn item by a spare part, which is either identical, or at least similar, to the original part (for example modifications may have taken place due to technical progress, or discontinued production of the old part), by exchanging cards, components or sub-assemblies. If the original performance of a product is modified (within the intended use, range of performance and maintenance originally conceived at the design stage) because the spare-parts used for its repair perform better due to technical progress, this product is not to be considered as new according to Union harmonisation legislation. Thus, maintenance operations are basically excluded from the scope of the Union harmonisation legislation. However, at the design stage of the product the intended use and maintenance must be taken into account (40).
Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-25 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.