Posted By Sean Fraser
Jonny,

Go to:

http://www.cemarking.net/

and all of your questions should be answered.

The letters 'CE' are an abbreviation of Conformité Européenne, French for European conformity.

As for how useful it is . . . well, that is a matter of ongoing debate. Previously (and this is only a personal view!) I believed that it is only as good as the honesty and ethical approach of the company manufacturing, procuring or servicing the equipment affected. The company was (in most cases) only required to self-certify their products which they supported with a technical file. The enforcement was all at the end (i.e. after an incident takes place) and failure to actually follow self-certification was proven in court - far too late for any potential victims!

However, a move towards front-end compliance has been introduced under the Pressure Equipment Directive, where affected equipment must now be certified by a recognised body prior to sale, which is mandatorily applied on equipment which is potentially more dangerous due to pressure and/or volume. At the bottom of the scale, there is still the requirement for self-certification - this means that the manufacturer targets resources for design and manufacturing certification according to danger and to therefore reduce overall costs in meeting compliance. All pressure equipment, even that which doesn't require self-certification, must still comply with what is called SEP - Sound Engineering Practice.

The problem with PED is that the CE Mark must NOT be shown on equipment that doesn't have the technical file behind it - this is actually enshrined in law and any manufacturer who does so may be liable to prosecution for false marking. This is potentially confusing to the purchaser, and makes instructions to purchasing and goods receipt staff more complicated - it would be so much easier to just say "all goods must now be CE Marked" as at least one organisation I know of initially tried (and probably still does)!

Overall I welcome the CE Marking scheme as a recognisable stamp of conformity to harmonised European standards - the problem is that without an enforcement system to back it up (i.e. through mandatory random conformity testing by an independant body) it is open to abuse and it would be a shame if such a widely recognised mark was discredited over time and lost it's excellent potential.

Posted By Laurie
See my response of 2 October last year.

CE Labels cost £27.60 per 250, and can also be produced on any computer.

From a safety standpoint they are not worth the glue they are stuck on with

Laurie

Posted By Allan St.John Holt
Congratulations to a sharp-eyed reader. First mistake spotted in Principles for three years - and it's been there since 1994! no excuse I know, and at this distance I can't even remember my source for the translation of CE. But - it's not right, and shall be corrected as soon as practicable.

I suppose in real terms as long as you know its the CE Mark, nobody will expect you to provide the expanded term. But that's no excuse for me, of course!

Allan

Posted By Allan St.John Holt
Go on, rub salt in the wound. He's got a copy already, remember? And the next thing will be a new thread called 'Competition to see who else can find an error in Principles'. I've crossed you off my Xmas Card List.

:0)>

Allan