Update on the revision to the PPE Directive

Posted on Friday 1 January 2010

The Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Directive is a fundamental piece of European legislation relating to occupational safety throughout Europe. The Directive is currently under review and the revised version is likely to come into effect fully by the end of 2016 or early 2017.

You cannot legally market PPE in the European Union unless it carries a CE mark and you obtain a CE mark for your equipment by demonstrating that it complies with the basic Health and Safety Requirements of the PPE Directive. Under the new, revised edition of the Directive, there will be a time limited validity of Certificates which will put a 5 year expiry date on product approvals. All notified bodies will have to re-approve products after their certificate has expired. However, if the product and standard have not changed it will be a simple administrative process to issue a new certificate.

One new proposal required is that a Declaration of Conformity be included with each item of PPE. As most manufacturers supply product information in many languages this would add considerable cost without benefit to the customer. The BSIF expressed concern over the potential financial burden this would impose along with our colleagues in the European Safety Federation. The requirement has now been amended to make it sufficient to add a simple statement of conformity to the user instructions with a web address where the full D of C can be viewed.

The revision of the PPE Directive should be ready to be submitted to the EU Council and Parliament before the end of 2013.