Natàlia Mas: "Catalonia has been working on the inspection of automatic doors for years"

In the following interview, the Director General of Industry of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Natàlia Mas, discusses the performance of the industrial sector in this autonomous region and talks, in particular, about the actions related to the assessment of the regulatory compliance of automatic doors installed in the territory.

How is the industrial sector developing in your region?

Industry is a key sector in the Catalan economy, not only because it represents 20% of the GDP, but also because industrial economies have more strength to cope with crises and the employment they create is more stable. As in other open industrial economies, the sector was recovering from the financial crisis but was already facing global challenges in some sub-sectors when the Covid crisis broke out. And then, despite all the international challenges and uncertainties, industry was recovering after the health problems until higher prices and global supply problems started creating new challenges for the sector, which is developing with more or less difficulty depending on the exposure to global challenges.

Nevertheless, Catalan industry has repeatedly shown its resilience, and the Catalan government is working to ensure that the opportunities for the more sustainable, green and inclusive digital transition that the sector requires will have a positive outcome, despite the fact that global uncertainties do not appear to be getting any better.

What criteria do you use for market control and surveillance? How important is CE marking in the automatic door sector and how is this market monitored?

The automatic doors that are installed and marketed in Europe are constructive elements that fall within the scope of the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. Like all directives issued by the European Union in the context of the so-called New Legislative Framework, its aim is to improve the functioning of the internal market for goods and to strengthen and modernise the conditions for placing a wide range of industrial products on the EU market, including automatic doors.

The approach of the regulatory provisions in the context of the New Legislative Framework has entailed the implementation of public actions by the different market surveillance authorities to make this surveillance effective for products marketed in the territory of the European Union in general and in Catalonia in particular, first applying Regulation (EU) 765/2008 and currently Regulation (EU) 2019/1020.

In this regard, the Regional Government of Catalonia has approved and published Resolution EMT/3315/2021, which implements the administrative procedure for market surveillance in the field of industrial safety in Catalonia. Specifically, with regard to the automatic door sector, the competent bodies in the field of industrial safety of the Regional Government of Catalonia have been working for several years, in coordination with other autonomous communities, drawing up an inspection protocol for such equipment and carrying out inspection campaigns to assess the regulatory compliance of automatic doors installed in Catalonia.