European regulation for ATEX 94/9/EC ATEX directive

European regulation for ATEX 94/9/EC directive

At top level regulation for Ex and ATEX equipment and certification, there is at regulatory level, one official source ATEX 94/9/EC directive.

Certification of conformity of ATEX equipment is done only regardless with respect to the essential requirements of health and safety of Annex II of the ATEX Directive.

Always at the regulatory level, there are 3 main sources for putting into practice the essential safety and health of the ATEX Directive: 

• the harmonized standards     
• The application guide of the ATEX Directive 94/9/EC.
• The « ExNBG Clarification Sheets noted by the ATEX Standing Committee » which are clarification sheets that are not legally bindings but are references documents agreed by the ATEX notified bodies (ExNBG - Ex notified bodies group). The objectives of these clarifications sheets are to minimise the interpretation of standards, and technical requirements of  the ATEX Directive 94/9/EC

Standardization and ATEX.

In order to facilitate the work of manufacturers and notified bodies, an important standardization work has been done a the european level in ATEX. This standardization work had started in the early 1990 under the pressure of  « new approach ».

The use of these standards allows to demonstrate the conformity of ATEX equipments to the requirements of essential requirement of health  and safety. However, the only standard status is not enough. This standard should be an harmonized standard. ATEX Directive 1994/9/EC provides a definition of a harmonized standard.