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What is CE Marking (CE Mark)?
CE Marking is the symbol “CE” as shown on the top of this page. The letters “CE” are the abbreviation of French phrase “Conformité Européne” which literally means “European Conformity”. The term initially used was “EC Mark” and it was officially replaced by “CE Marking” in the Directive 93/68/EEC in 1993. “CE Marking” is now used in all EU official documents.
“CE Mark” is also in use, but it is NOT the official term. For instance, in the Directive 2007/47/ec, of 5 September 2007, amending the directives 90/385/eec, 93/42/eec & 98/8/ec, the term CE Marking appears 9 times whereas CE Mark appears nowhere in the entire 35-page document.
1. CE Marking on a product is a manufacturer’s declaration that the product complies with the essential requirements of the relevant European health, safety and environmental protection legislation, in practice by many of the so-called Product Directives.*
*Product Directives contains the “essential requirements” and/or “performance levels” and “Harmonized Standards” to which the products must conform. Harmonized Standards are the technical specifications (European Standards or Harmonization Documents) which are established by several European standards agencies (CEN, CENELEC, etc.).
CEN stands for European Committee for Standardization.
CENELEC stands for European Committee for Electro technical Standardization.
2. CE Marking on a product indicates to governmental officials that the product may be legally placed on the market in their country.
3. CE Marking on a product ensures the free movement of the product within the EFTA & European Union (EU) single market (total 28 countries), and
4. CE Marking on a product permits the withdrawal of the non-conforming products by customs and enforcement/vigilance authorities.
Along with more directives’ becoming effective, more and more products are required to bear the CE Marking for gaining access to the EFTA & European Union market. However, many non-EU exporters are still unaware of or unsure about this fact and its impact on their business.
General principles of the CE marking
1. The CE marking shall be affixed only by the manufacturer or his authorized representative.
2. The CE marking shall be affixed only to products to which its affixing is provided for by specific Community harmonization legislation, and shall not be affixed to any other product.
3. By affixing or having affixed the CE marking, the manufacturer indicates that he takes responsibility for the conformity of the product with all applicable requirements set out in the relevant Community harmonization legislation providing for its affixing.
4. The CE marking shall be the only marking which attests the conformity of the product with the applicable requirements of the relevant Community harmonization legislation providing for its affixing.
5. The affixing to a product of markings, signs or inscriptions which are likely to mislead third parties regarding the meaning or form of the CE marking shall be prohibited. Any other marking may be affixed to the product provided that the visibility, legibility and meaning of the CE marking is not thereby impaired.
6. Member States shall ensure the correct implementation of the regime governing the CE marking and take appropriate action in the event of improper use of the marking. Member States shall also provide for penalties for infringements, which may include criminal sanctions for serious infringements. Those penalties shall be proportionate to the seriousness of the offence and constitute an effective deterrent against improper use.
What Products Need CE?
1. 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.
The “gaseous fuel” means any fuel which are in a gaseous state at a temperature of 15 go under a pressure of 1 bar.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Equipment and Protective Systems for Used in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres (Atex)
o 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.
o Protective systems mean 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.
o A component 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, vapors, mists or dusts in which, after ignition has occurred, combustion spreads to the entire unburned mixture.
Potentially explosive atmosphere means an atmosphere which could become explosive due to local and operational conditions. .
6. 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.
7. 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).
8. 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.
9. Machinery
The “machinery” means:
o 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,
o an assembly of machines which, in order to achieve the same end, are arranged and controlled so that they function as an integral whole,
o 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.
10. Measuring Instruments
The “measuring instrument” means: any device or system with a measurement function that is covered by Articles 1 and 3;
11. 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:
o Diagnosis, prevention, monitoring, treatment or alleviation of a disease, an injury or a handicap.
o Investigation, replacement or modification of the anatomy or of a physiological process.
o 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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 utilizing the spectrum allocated to terrestrial/space radio communication.
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).
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. 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` mean 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 (CSIQI), 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.
19. 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.
20. 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.
Why CE Marking is called-the “Passport to Europe” for non-EU products?
The European Union’s ‘New Approach directives’ are mandatory on all member countries to enact through national legislation.
This legislation requires manufacturers to display CE Marking on their product, packaging and accompanying literature. Where a new approach directive is in force, it is (with few exceptions) an offence to place a product on the market without CE Marking. The manufacturer is legally responsible for ensuring that the product confirms to the requirements of the directive and for applying CE Marking.
CE Marking is one important measure that the EU has adopted to establish the single market and foster economic development for the member states. The objective of the directives is to simplify the movement of goods into and within the EU. This may eventually lead to the free movement of goods throughout Europe as more and more European countries are expected to join the EU. The European Commission thus refers to the CE Marking as a “Passport” which allows products to be freely circulated within the EU single market.
Often, consumers will consider CE Marking on a product as an indication of conformance to laid down minimum standards, and therefore a minimum level of quality which other products may lack. CE Marking is thus for many consumers a “Symbol of Quality.” Being a manufacturer exporting to EU, if you have not got your products fixed with CE Marking, it is now time to invest in it. A CE Marking on your product will be more valuable than millions of dollars spent on TV advertising. Nowadays, it is not unusual to see some high-quality, even known brand, products have to appear in Second-hand Stores (which sells used products) or on street-vendor’s Stands. Why? Lack CE Marking!