Requirements for Manufacturers of Non-electrical Equipment

Manufacturers of non-electrical equipment intended for use in Zones 1/21 & 2/22 (category 2 & 3 equipment) do not need to undertake the EC Type-examination certification route that is required for electrical equipment under ATEX (and category 1 mechanical equipment).

Instead, compliance is achieved by “self-certifying” the equipment by complying to “Internal Control of Production” (Annex VIII of the ATEX Directive).

Internal Control of Production requires compilation and submission of a technical file in a sealed package to a Notified Body for storage of the file (for category 2 non-electrical equipment).

The technical documentation should comprise of:

A general description of the product
Conceptual design and manufacturing drawings
Descriptions and explanations necessary to understand the drawings and operation of the equipment
A list of standards applied in full or in part and descriptions of solutions adopted where the standards have not been applied
Results of design calculations and examinations carried out
Test reports
An Ignition Hazard Assessment of the product, against the relevant standards
Declaration of conformity

Storage of the File

For category 2 non-electrical equipment, the completed technical file needs to be submitted to a Notified Body for their storage (for at least 10 years after the last piece of equipment is manufactured). Please note that a Notified Body will not review the file, they will just store it, meaning that full responsibility for compliance lies with the manufacturer.

Category 1 Non-electrical Equipment

If the equipment is to be used in a Zone 0 environment, the manufacturer must gain an EC Type Examination and ATEX certificate from a Notified Body, and Quality Assurance issues apply.

Category 3 Equipment

If the equipment is only to be used in a Zone 2 environment, the manufacturer can declare compliance (on completion of the technical file) and label the product accordingly. There is no legal requirement for the technical file to be submitted to a Notified Body in this case.

The Standards Used

ATEX defines the EN 13463 mechanical series of standards used to facilitate compliance to the directive.
EN 13463-1 is the generic standard which should be used as the basis, however others existing for specific non-electrical equipment.

Sira Technical File Services

As there is no legal requirement for a Notified Body to check or review the technical file, it is the responsibility of the manufacturer to ensure that the equipment is fully compliant, and that they have compiled the technical file accurately and completely.

Sira understands however that you may not have the time, resource or compliance knowledge to compile a file on your own, so we can work with you to ensure your product achieves compliance. This can be by
an initial consultancy session, training and/or reviewing your technical file and risk assessment for completeness.

Utilising the expertise of our compliance engineers will ensure that you can feel confident that you have followed the requirements of the directive, enabling you to declare compliance with the minimum of fuss and expenditure.

Quotation for Technical File Services

For more information relating to ATEX and non-electrical equipment, please download the Technical File datasheets from the ATEX downloads section by clicking here

For a formal, fixed price quotation, please fill in the relevant sections of our request for quotation form, a copy of which can be downloaded by clicking here