On March 29, 2014, the European Commission published the recasts of eight CE marking directives. These directives have new reference numbers and are aligned with the rules and responsibilities for CE marking that were published earlier in Decision 768/2008/EU.  Here are three that changed:

• EMC Directive is now 2014/30/EU (previously 2004/108/EC)
• Low Voltage Directive (LVD) is now 2014/35/EU (previously 2006/95/EC)
• ATEX Directive is now 2014/34/EU (previously 94/9/EC)

The new directives enter into force on April 19, 2014, and Member States have until April 20, 2016 to amend their national legislation, as the old directives will be repealed then.

Manufacturer CE Declarations of Conformity (DoC) can start referencing the new directive numbers when they enter into force later this month. By April 20, 2016 the new numbers are required for products that fall within the scope of these directives and which are made available for the first time.

The directive recast was undertaken to align with the European Commission New Legislative Framework (NLF).

Adopted in 2008, the NLF was designed to:

• Require traceability within the supply chain
• Improve market surveillance rules
• Boost the quality of conformity assessment through more stringent requirements imposed on conformity assessment bodies and testing laboratories
• Install tighter controls on the use of the ‘CE Mark’ to enhance its credibility

MET Labs is experienced and active in testing for 8 directives to support CE marking.  Contact us to discover how these directive changes affect your product lines.