Hazardous Area - IECEx & ATEX Legislation

ATEX documentation

ATEX is not true certification. The only public domain document for ATEX is the manufacturer’s Declaration of Conformity (DoC). This is the only information that the manufacturer is obliged to show purchasers and the manufacturer has sole responsibility for it. It is produced independently of any other documentation, although it may make reference to other sources. This lack of detail has led other national standard bodies outside of the EU to doubt the value of ATEX compliance and challenge it as reference paperwork for local essential health and safety requirements.

Common approach

A common route to compliance is to use pre-approved products in a specified manner and, if required, a notified body (An Ex. Test house – for example Baseefa, Sira, TUV) to provide a conformity assessment to gain additional certification. Unfortunately for global export this is not always sufficient.

An internationally acceptable solution was required allowing equipment designs to be used in any part of the world without significant modification. The approach would use recognised practice to achieve a common acceptable level of safety, with the goal of facilitating free trade of hazardous area use products across all major world markets.

IECEx scheme

IECEx is a certification scheme championed by the IEC, and it is fast becoming the preferred route for international safe certification of products for use within all hazardous areas. The IEC test report provides detail not included within an ATEX certificate and can be locally ratified to overcome any destination market legislative difficulties that may arise.

In contrast to ATEX, IECEx was designed from the outset as an ISO/IEC Type 5 Certification Scheme, employing a single third party (The IECEx Certification Body) to combine all aspects of design evaluation and production control before issuing a certificate. This certificate is a publically available document which has been issued by a recognised certification body. To support this the online IECEx database allows the equipment purchaser to check the current status of the certificate – current, suspended or withdrawn – in real-time.

Acceptable across the world

Therefore, unlike ATEX, IECEx is completely transparent giving purchasers and users access to detail that would not be easy to obtain under the ATEX compliance system. The universal goal for IECEx is to be “one certificate acceptable everywhere” supported by absolute and traceable compliance to the nominated standards.

ATEX compliments IECEx

This is not to say that ATEX is dead. Its mandatory legal status within Europe will ensure that it continues to be very important, however IECEx certification compliments ATEX and choosing equipment that has compliance to both standards has advantages if the final destination is outside the EU.

Within the UK & Europe Baseefa continue to lead the way in product verification, assessment and certification, and have global acceptance within the IECEx scheme. An example of the worldwide embracement of IECEx is the adoption of the scheme by the Underwriters Laboratories of American (UL). UL has gained accreditation under the IECEx scheme, and has been issuing Assessment and Test Reports (ATRs) since 2005.

One certification process

The ATRs produced will be accepted by other national certification bodies in countries participating under the scheme without the need for additional testing. So one product certification can open the door to national certifications in 31 countries currently participating in the scheme.

These include Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States and Russia.

See our range of products that can be used in the hazardous areas
(Please ensure that products conform to your local hazardous area requirement.)

Bringing IECEx and ATEX together

1. Technically identical standards for electrical equipment since 2006
2. For single standards, a single set of tests and assessments can support both IECEx and ATEX
3. An ATEX EC-Type Examination Certificate can be based on an IECEx ExTR, but ATEX documentation does not necessarily support an IECEx certificate
4. The technical requirements of a manufacturer’s QA system are effectively the same, both being based on EN13980 and an IECEx QAR can support the issue of an ATEX QAN

While total global harmonisation is still some way off, more and more countries are adopting this international certification scheme. Many manufacturers have acknowledged this shift and have begun adding IECEx compliance to their list of approvals. You will see an increasing number of products – existing & new – displaying the blue IECEx logo alongside the familiar ATEX Ex logo.

An Example of product marking with dual certification.

IECEx and ATEX dual marking is becoming increasingly common. This approach enables products to gain an equal acceptance status in the countries signed up to the IECEx scheme as they currently receive in Europe. In some cases there may still be a requirement for coverage of national certification, however in these instances the certification can be fast tracked at minimal cost using the IECEx test report.

With businesses in the UK and Europe placing more emphasis on export markets especially outside of Europe and North America, dual certification will be beneficial in simplifying the export process.

The IECEx scheme is a very positive step towards a world certification system. When combined with ATEX dual marking it will help you to make a more informed decision during the process of designing, building or purchasing products for hazardous area applications.