CE Certification

The letters “CE” are the acronym of the French phrase “Conformité Européene” which literally means “European Conformity”. The term primarily used was “EC Mark” and it was formally replaced by “CE Marking” in Directive 93/68/EEC in 1993. “CE Marking” is now used in all EU official documents.

Does my product need CE Marking?

CE Marking is most probably required if you export to the 27 European Union (EU) and 3 European Free Trade Association (EFTA) member states the following 20 groups of products –

• Appliances Burning Gaseous Fuels (AppliGas)
  The “appliances burning gaseous fuels” used for cooking, heating, hot water production, refrigeration, lighting or washing and having, where applicable, a normal water temperature not exceeding 105 gC. Forced draught burners and heating bodies to be equipped with such burners will also be considered as appliances.
• Cableway Installations to Carry Persons
  The “cableway installations designed to carry persons” shall mean installations made up of several components, designed, manufactured, assembled and put into service with the object of carrying persons.
  These on-site installations are used for the carriage of persons in vehicles or by towing devices, whereby the suspension and/or traction is provided by cables positioned along the line of travel.
• Low Voltage Electrical Equipment
  The “Electrical Equipment” means any equipment designed for use with a voltage rating of between 50 and 1000 V for alternating current (A.C.) and between 75 and 1500 V for direct current (D.C.). Therefore, it is called often “Low Voltage Electrical Equipment” which includes the vast majority of electrical equipment in everyday use.
• Construction Products
  The “construction product” means any product which is produced for incorporation in a permanent manner in construction works, including both buildings and civil engineering works.
• Equipment and Protective Systems for Used in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres (Atex)
  
  • Equipment means machines, apparatus, fixed or mobile devices, control components and instrumentation thereof and detection or prevention systems which, separately or jointly, are intended for the generation, transfer, storage, measurement, control and conversion of energy for the processing of material and which are capable of causing an explosion through their own potential sources of ignition.
  • Protective systems means design units which are intended to halt incipient explosions immediately and/or to limit the effective range of explosion flames and explosion pressures. Protective systems may be integrated into equipment or separately placed on the market for use as autonomous systems.
  • Components means any item essential to the safe functioning of equipment and protective systems but with no autonomous function. Explosive atmospheres Mixture with air, under atmospheric conditions, of flammable substances in the form of gases, vapours, mists or dusts in which, after ignition has occurred, combustion spreads to the entire unburned mixture.
• Explosives for Civil Uses
  The “Explosives” here shall mean the materials and articles considered to be such in the United Nations recommendations on the transport of dangerous goods and falling within Class 1 of those recommendations.
• Hot Water Boilers
  The “hot-water boilers” here means a boiler fired by liquid or gaseous fuels with a rated output of between 4 kW and 400 kW (including 4 kW and 400 kW).
• Lift
  The “lift” here means an appliance serving specific levels, having a car moving along guides which are rigid and inclined at an angle of more than 15 degrees to the horizontal and intended for the transport of:
  • persons
  • persons and goods,
  • goods alone if the car is accessible, that is to say, a person may enter it without difficulty, and fitted with controls situated inside the car or within reach of a person inside.
• Machinery
  the “machinery” means:
  • an assembly of linked parts or components, at least one of which moves, with the appropriate actuators, control and power circuits, etc., joined together for a specific application, in particular for the processing, treatment, moving or packaging of a material,
  • an assembly of machines which, in order to achieve the same end, are arranged and controlled so that they function as an integral whole,
  • interchangeable equipment modifying the function of a machine, which is placed on the market for the purpose of being assembled with a machine or a series of different machines or with a tractor by the operator himself in so far as this equipment is not a spare part or a tool.
• Measuring Instruments
  the “measuring instrument” means: any device or system with a measurement function that is covered by Articles 1 and 3;
• Medical Devices
  A “Medical Device” is defined in Directive (93/42/EEC) as: any instrument, apparatus, appliance, material or other article, whether used alone or in combination, including the software necessary for the proper application, intended by the manufacturer to be used for human beings for the purpose of :
  • diagnosis, prevention, monitoring, treatment or alleviation of a disease, an injury or a handicap.
  • investigation, replacement or modification of the anatomy or of a physiological process.
  • control of conception
  and which does not achieve its principal intended action in or on the human body by pharmacological, immunological or metabolic means, but which may be assisted by such means.
• Active Implantable Medical Devices
  The “active medical device” means any medical device relying for its functioning on a source of electrical energy or any source of power other than that directly generated by the human body or gravity
  The “active implantable medical device” means any active medical device which is intended to be totally or partially introduced, surgically or medically, into the human body or by medical intervention into a natural orifice, and which is intended to remain after the procedure.
• In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices The “in vitro diagnostic medical device” means any medical device which is a reagent, reagent product, calibrator, control material, kit, instrument, apparatus, equipment, or system, whether used alone or in combination, intended by the manufacturer to be used in vitro for the examination of specimens, including blood and tissue donations, derived from the human body, solely or principally for the purpose of providing information:
  • concerning a physiological or pathological state, or
  • concerning a congenital abnormality, or
  • to determine the safety and compatibility with potential recipients, or
  • to monitor therapeutic measures.
• Non-automatic Weighing Instruments
  

  A “Weighing Instrument” is defined as a measuring instrument serving to determine the mass of a body by using the action of gravity on that body. A weighing instrument may also serve to determine other mass-related magnitudes, quantities, parameters or characteristics.
  A “non-automatic weighing instrument” is defined as a weighing instrument requiring the intervention of an operator during weighing.

• Radio Equipment & Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (R&TTE)
  A “radio equipment” means a product, or relevant component thereof, capable of communication by means of the emission and/or reception of radio waves utilising the spectrum allocated to terrestrial/space radiocommunication.
  A “telecommunications terminal equipment” means a product enabling communication or a relevant component thereof which is intended to be connected directly or indirectly by any means whatsoever to interfaces of public telecommunications networks (that is to say, telecommunications networks used wholly or partly for the provision of publicly available telecommunications services).
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
  The “personal protective equipment” means any device or appliance designed to be worn or held by an individual for protection against one or more health and safety hazards.
• Simple Pressure Vessels
  The “simple pressure vessel” means any welded vessel subjected to an internal gauge pressure greater than 0,5 bar which is intended to contain air or nitrogen and which is not intended to be fired.
• Pressure Equipment
  The “Pressure Equipment” means vessels, piping, safety accessories and pressure accessories.
  Where applicable, pressure equipment includes elements attached to pressurized parts, such as flanges, nozzles, couplings, supports, lifting lugs, etc.
  ‘Vessel` means a housing designed and built to contain fluids under pressure including its direct attachments up to the coupling point connecting it to other equipment. A vessel may be composed of more than one chamber.
  ‘Piping` means piping components intended for the transport of fluids, when connected together for integration into a pressure system. Piping includes in particular a pipe or system of pipes, tubing, fittings, expansion joints, hoses, or other pressure-bearing components as appropriate. Heat exchangers consisting of pipes for the purpose of cooling or heating air shall be considered as piping.
  ‘Safety accessories` means devices designed to protect pressure equipment against the allowable limits being exceeded. Such devices include:
  • devices for direct pressure limitation, such as safety valves, bursting disc safety devices, buckling rods, controlled safety pressure relief systems (CSPRS), and
  • limiting devices, which either activate the means for correction or provide for shutdown or shutdown and lockout, such as pressure switches or temperature switches or fluid level switches and ‘safety related measurement control and regulation (SRMCR)` devices.
  ‘Pressure accessories` means devices with an operational function and having pressure-bearing housings.
  ‘Assemblies` means several pieces of pressure equipment assembled by a manufacturer to constitute an integrated and functional whole.
• Recreational Craft
  The “Recreational craft” means any boat of any type, regardless of the means of propulsion, from 2,5 to 24 m hull length, measured according to the appropriate harmonized standards intended for sports and leisure purposes.
• Toys
  A “toy” shall mean any product or material designed or clearly intended for use in play by children of less than 14 years of age.

Do you really understand CE marking certification? Do you know which European directives and standards apply to your products? Do you know how to dramatically increase your product’s CE approval success rate? Will your CE marking strategy and tactics be different, if you fully understand the underlying CE marking principles?

If you don’t understand the principles of CE marking, you are inclined to rely on what your suppliers or customers tell you. And you want to trust that the certification route proposed by third party test laboratories or certification bodies is really in your best interest. But are you sure there isn’t a faster or more cost effective solution? Do you feel you are driving your company’s CE marking project? Or do you feel you are taken for a ride?

Here is your opportunity to take control over your company’s CE marking projects. To get back in the driver seat, so to speak. You can learn exactly how the CE marking requirements affect your company’s products and business. You can take the strategies and tactics and use them to reduce CE certification costs and get results amazingly fast.