Come and visit us at the National Electronics Week show!

Between the 8th and 10th April, the CE Marking Association will have a stand at the National Electronics Week show, held in Hall 2 at the NEC, Birmingham. You can find us at stand #35, and we would like to invite you to come and speak to some of the technical team about the CE Mark and other areas of European product conformity. In addition to this, we are presenting a FREE seminar on CE Marking Electrical and Electronic Equipment, at 11am on everyday of the show.

The show is free to attend and you can pre-register at: http://www.reg-box.co.uk/new2014/

The show is also be run at the same time of a number of other shows, including MACH 2014 (free pass available on their website) and the Gadget Show Live Professional (free entry if you bring your NEW ticket along with you to the entrance).

More information about the show can be found on the NEW-Expo website: http://www.new-expo.co.uk/newuk/

We look forward to meeting you there.

For many people who have explored the world of CE marking, they are likely to have come across a very good guide about the implementation of Directives based upon the ‘New Approach.’ The guide was published by the European Commission and was an excellent source of knowledge, not only for the covering the basics, but also helping to tackle some of the grey areas. The guide had a blue front cover and became informally known as the ‘Blue Book’ or guide.

The only real down side about the guide was that it was well over 10 years old and was very out of date. For a start, the ‘New Approach’ has now been replaced by the ‘New Legislation Framework,’ but more importantly the Directives covered by the guide have also been replaced. However there is good news, as a the European Commission have now published a new version. Clearly the informal name of the old guide was very popular, as the new guide is titled “The ‘Blue Guide’ on the implementation of EU product rules.”

The guide has been thoroughly revised to reflect the current set of EU Product Legislation and even better, it is said that the guide will be kept in a fluid state to ensure that new information is continuously added to prevent there being another 14 year gap between updates. The guide is only available in electronic version, but can be downloaded for free at the following website address:

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/single-market-goods/documents/internal-market-for-products/new-legislative-framework/index_en.htm#h2-3

 The New 2014 Blue Guide on EU Product Legislation: http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/4801/attachments/3/translations/en/renditions/native

If you need any support with CE marking, then please call us on 01527 595066.

The new Construction Products Regulation came into force last July, requiring manufacturers of construction products to CE mark their products! A crucial part of the CE marking process is for the manufacturer to complete a Declaration of Performance, which provides conformity and performance information about the product that they have CE marked. This Declaration is required to be supplied with each product which is made available on the market and can be supplied in either paper or by electronic means, however the conditions for using the latter option were left with the Regulation as being ‘to be established by the Commission.’

Well, for those who wish to place their Declarations online, the wait is now over, as the European Commission have finally published the amendment Regulation (No 157/2014). The amendment sets out the conditions for making a declaration of performance on construction products available on a website, which are summarised below.

The economic operator shall:

• ensure that the content of the Declaration of Performance (DoP) is not altered after it has been made available on the website;
• ensure that the website where the DoP has been made available is monitored and maintained so that the website and the DoP are continuously available to recipients of the construction product(s);
• ensure that the DoP may be accessed by the recipients of the Construction Products free of charge for a period of 10 years after the product has been placed on the market (or for such other period that may be applicable);
• provide instructions to the recipients of the construction products on how to access the website and the Declaration

Manufacturers shall also ensure that every single product, or batch of the same products, is linked to a given Declaration of Performance by means of the unique identification code of the product-type.

The full text of the amendment regulation can be viewed on the European Commission’s website: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2014:052:0001:0002:EN:PDF

If you need further support with Construction Products, then please read our guidance pages or call us on 01527 595066.

The following lists of harmonised standards referenced on the European Commission’s Official Journal have been updated in January 2014:

– Energy Labelling of Household Refrigerating Appliances
– Pressure Equipment Directive
– Simple Pressure Vessels Directive

The CE Marking Association have been regular speakers at the Southern and Northern Manufacturing and Electronic Shows in the UK. The aim is to raise awareness of European Product Compliance and the routes available to manufacturers. This year we will be presenting a FREE CE marking seminar on “CE Marking of Machinery and new products into Europe for 2014 and beyond” at the Southern Manufacturing & Electronics Show at FIVE in Farnborough on the 12^th February 2014.

At the Southern Show, Peter Evans, Principal Compliance Engineer at the CE Marking Association, will discuss the conformity requirements for placing machines and new products on the market in Europe, as well as the changes in product legislation in 2014 and beyond. After the discussion, Peter and his colleague, Aaron Frater, will be available to discuss and answer any questions on product conformity.

The exhibition also features other free manufacturing related seminars and features hundreds of exhibitors with products and services that cover all aspects of manufacturing and electronics. The Southern Show will be held at FIVE in Farnborough on the 12th & 13th February 2014 and like our CE Marking seminar on the 12th February, the show is FREE to attend, so long as you are an industry professional. Free parking is also available.

If you would like to attend, then why not pre-register today for free at http://www.industrysouth.co.uk/