1. At the request of the manufacturer and where justified by technical, economic or logistic reasons related to the nature of the product or the test equipment, notified bodies may decide to carry out the tests referred to in Annex IX, for the assessment and verification systems 1+, 1 and 3 or have such tests carried out under their supervision, either in the manufacturing plants using the test equipment of the internal laboratory of the manufacturer or, with the prior consent of the manufacturer, in an external laboratory, using the test equipment of that laboratory.
Notified bodies carrying out such tests shall be specifically designated as competent to work away from their own test facilities and shall also in that regard comply with the requirements laid down in Article 46.
2. Before carrying out the tests referred to in paragraph 1, notified bodies shall verify whether the requirements of the test method are satisfied and shall evaluate whether:
| (a) | test equipment has an appropriate calibration system and the traceability of the measurements is guaranteed; and |
| (b) | the quality of the test results is ensured. |
Notified bodies shall assume full responsibility for the tests in their entirety, including the accuracy and traceability of calibration and measurements, and for the reliability of the test results.