Page 36 - Electrical Installation in Hazardous Area

introduction 1 5

can take considerable time to resolve. Because of the commercial nature of
the use of certification HOTL performs a valuable role in providing speedy
temporary clarification pending the decision of the Standards writing body
and to this end HOTL members notify that body of all temporary clarifi-
cations which they have adopted. The Standards writing body may then
endorse or override them as it wishes, in its own good time. This does
not normally represent any problem for the holder of a certificate based
on an HOTL clarification later overturned by the Standards writing body
because, unless a prima-facie danger is identified in relation to the HOTL
decision, the certificate would be allowed to stand, although members of
HOTL would automatically adopt the official clarification as soon as it was
available for future certification.
Many of the approved bodies issue certificates to equipment complying
with their own or national Standards in addition to equipment complying
with the European Standards referred to in the Directive. These are not
covered by the Directive and their acceptance is a matter for the individual
user. This is likewise true of certificates issued by bodies not approved by
the EU even though they may be national bodies and likewise acceptance
is a matter for the individual. Where these latter certificates are in relation
to the European Standards then it is only the expertise of the non-approved
certification body which must be considered but in other cases (e.g, Factory
Mutual Research Corporation and Underwriters Laboratories in the USA)
the Standards to which the equipment is certified (or listed which is what
the activity is called in the USA) differ significantly, and the effect of this
must also be considered.

1.7 Certificate and labelling information

There is no real short cut to identification of suitable equipment as the
schedules issued with certificates of conformity and inspection certificates
contain information which is necessary to the user. These should always be
made available to the purchasers of certified equipment and there is a legal
obligation upon suppliers to do this insofar as safety is dependent upon
such information. There is, however, a standard coding which appears on
both certificate and label usually and this is as follows.

Certifying body reference

This appears usually as a set of initials and these are those shown in brackets
in Section 1.5 of this chapter (e.g., PTB, LCIE, etc.).

Certificate number

This appears as follows:
Ex 96 D 2 123 (X)
The various parts of this Code have the following meanings: