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Guide to Products Conforming to International Legislation
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EU Directives Q&A
CE Marking
|Q1 What responsibility does the manufacturer take when affixing the CE marking?
The CE marking indicates that the manufacturer certifies their product conforms to the requirements of the relevant legislation. This means that the manufacturer bears responsibility for the product to which they have affixed the CE marking. For example, if any non-conformity to the legislation should be found in the product, the manufacturer will be imposed with penalties set out by each country to prohibit free districution of the product within the EU market, which include removal of the product concerned from the market and ban on shipment, operation or use of the product.
|Q2 How are manufacturers exporting to EU countries responding to these requirements?
What is the trend?
In order to avoid the risks mentioned in A4 above, manufacturers are increasingly asking third-party testing organizations, including EU Notified Bodies, to conduct inspections/tests and are obtaining certifications of conformity (certification is done only by an EU Notified Body), before affixing CE marking.
|Q3 What products fall in the scope of the Machinery Directive?
SMC products such as dryers, chillers, safety exhaust valves, safety serial interface devices and motor drivers with safety functions are in the scope of the Machinery Directive. Other pneumatic components and motorless electrical actuators are outside of the scope. |Q4 How should spare parts (for maintenance) be treated according to CE marking directives?
The CE marking relates to products as there are placed on the market. A product made of a number of components will be CE marked as a complete entity. If individual parts of the product are placed on the market separately then they need to be CE marked individually. The cables used with SMC electric actuators are not CE-marked as they are supplied as part of the complete product.
|Q5 Are there any EU directives requiring certification by a notified body for the CE marking?
Some products in the scope of the ATEX, Pressure Equipment, Machinery Directive and Simple Pressure Vessel Directives require mandatory conformity assessment by a notified body.
|Q6 Understanding the Production Lot (Batch code)
The chart below shows the meaning of the production lot (batch code)
Typically the code consists of 2 letters. If there is a code with 4 letters, please refer to the first 2 letters.
|Q7 What is the Pressure Equipment Directive?
The Pressure Equipment Directive establishes the guidelines for the design and manufacturing of pressure equipment.
It is applicable to pressure equipment with a maximum allowable pressure that exceeds 0.5 bar.
Products are classified into "vessel", "boiler" or "piping", and the state of the fluid into "gas" or "liquid", and also whether or not it is dangerous.
