Page 30 - Electrical Installation in Hazardous Area

Introduction 9

Fig. 1.3 The Distinctive Community Mark

CENELEC Standards referred to in the Supplementary Directives, and the
Inspection Certificate for equipment which did not comply but was consid-
ered by the approved body to be of at least equivalent safety. In this latter
case, however, all of the approved bodies in all member states had to agree
on equivalence and thus, although this route allowed some flexibility, it
was seldom used due to its expensive and time consuming nature.
The Explosive Atmospheres Directive 19758 remained in force until 1996
when it was superseded by a new Directive on the subject1’. The new Direc-
tive followed the EU ’new approach’ in which the technical requirements
were included within the Directive, rather than by reference to Standards
Unlike its predecessor, in this Directive there was a mandatory requirement
that after a certain cut-off date all equipment put into use must of necessity
comply with it and, unlike its predecessor, included dusts - bringing equip-
ment for use in dust risks into the certification net set up by its predecessor.
Article 2 of this Directive states:

Member States shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the
equipment, protective systems and devices to which this Directive
applies may be placed on the market and put into service only if,
when properly installed and maintained and used for their intended
purpose, they do not endanger the health and safety of persons and,
where appropriate, domestic animals or property.

As the essential requirements for health and safety are included in this
Directive it effectively excludes all other equipment. The exclusion of non-
complying equipment (including that complying with the 1976 Directive)
will come into force in on 30 June 2003. European Standards are no longer
referred to in the new Directive but will be identified in the EU Journal” as
acceptable as a means of compliance with the Directive (but not, as before,