Members of the CE Marking Association frequently send questions into the Technical Team for support on Product Compliance. Where the dilemma may be of interest to a wider audience we like to publish the questions and answers as guidance for other manufacturers. Please note that the question and answer may have been altered for confidentiality reasons.
Question
If I take delivery on site of an 415V Electrical control panel, which is to form part of a bigger fixed installation, should the panel have the CE mark and come with a Declaration of Conformity against the Low Voltage Directive (as I believe the panel falls within the scope)?
Answer
Thank you for your query.
There are a couple possibilities depending upon how the supplier of the panel views their role with supplying the panel to you. The Low Voltage Directive (LVD) applies to electrical equipment that has an input or output voltage within the range of 50-1000 V A.C. or 75-1500 V D.C. For equipment that is within this voltage range and is not listed within Annex II (items excluded), the Directive will sets out requirements for the manufacturer to fulfil before the product is being placed on the market.
This tends to be where most people get stuck, as the Low Voltage Directive contains very few definitions for guidance; therefore we have to lean on the Official European Guidance Notes for the Low Voltage Directive, which goes into more detail. In this particular matter we need to establish who is classed as the manufacturer and what is the definition of “placing on the market”. In both instances, the European guide refers to the European Commission’s guide to implementation of the European Product Directives, which states:
A manufacturer is defined as a person who is responsible for designing and manufacturing a product with a view to placing it on the market under his own name. The responsibilities of a manufacturer also apply to persons who have ready-made products placed on the market under their own name (brief summary of the text within section 3.1 of the EC’s Guide)
Placing on the market is defined as when a product is transferred from the stage of manufacture with the intention of distribution or use on the Community market. This transfer can be for payment or free of charge. (Brief summary of the text within section 2.3.1 of the EC’s guide)
So using the above definitions, we need to establish who is defined as the manufacturer;
– If the panel has been designed and built for you and the ‘panel builder’ places their name on the product, then they will be classed as the manufacturer and as such the panel would be covered by the LVD. The panel is also likely to come under the ElectroMagnetic Compatibility (EMC) Directive too, so the CE mark should be applied for both of these Directives.
– If the panel has been designed by you and the panel builder has purely acted as a sub-contract manufacturer to build your panel, then in this scenario you would be deemed to be the manufacturer and will be responsible for CE marking. All the panel builder would be responsible for is to supply a panel as per your design.
Using the guidance above you need to establish who is defined as the manufacturer of the control panel, and then this will help to determine who is responsible for CE marking.
Sources:
– EC’s Guide on Implementation of EU Directives
