The European Commission has published the ATEX 2014/34/UE guide lines 2nd edition December 2017.

You can find the official document on the european commission website and on the following page :

Guide to application of the ATEX Directive 2014/34/EU-second edition in PDF

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The guide that was published before is presented here after

Guide to application of the ATEX Directive 2014/34/EU

1. These ATEX Guidelines are intended to be a manual for all parties directly or indirectly affected by Directive 2014/34/EU^[1], commonly referred to as the ATEX ("Atmosphères explosibles") "product" directive, applicable from 20 April 2016, replacing the previous Directive 94/9/EC applicable from 1 July 2003 until 19 April 2016.
2. Readers' attention is drawn to the fact that these Guidelines are intended only to facilitate the application of Directive 2014/34/EU, and it is the relevant national transposition of the text of the Directive which is legally binding. However, this document does represent a reference for ensuring consistent application of the Directive by all interested parties and stakeholders. The ATEX Guidelines are intended to help ensure the free movement of products within the scope of the ATEX Directive in the European Union^[2] by consensus amongst Member States' government experts and other parties concerned.
3. These Guidelines have been prepared by the competent services of the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG Growth)^[3], in co-operation with representatives and experts from EU Member States, European standardisation, notified bodies, industry and other relevant sectoral stakeholders, with the specific contribution of the "New ATEX Guidelines Editorial Group (NAGEG)". They are based on the last issue (4^th Edition - September 2012 - Revision December 2013) of the Guidelines on the application of Directive 94/9/EC, applicable until 19 April 2016, as well as on other horizontal and vertical guidance documents.
4. The European Commission services will undertake to maintain these Guidelines. It is our goal to ensure that the information provided is both timely and accurate. If errors are brought to our attention, we will try to correct them as soon as possible. However, the Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to the information in this document.

This information is:

• of a general nature only and is not intended to address the specific circumstances of any particular individual or entity;
• not necessarily comprehensive, complete, accurate or up-to-date;
• sometimes refers to external information over which the Commission services have no control and for which the Commission assumes no responsibility;
• not professional or legal advice.

5. All references to the CE marking and the EU declaration of conformity in these ATEX Guidelines relate only to the Directive 2014/34/EU. To place products falling under Directive 2014/34/EU in the European Union territory, all other relevant legislation must be applied. For wider information on the whole system, see the latest version of "The 'Blue Guide' on the implementation of EU product rules", available in all the EU official languages on http://ec.europa.eu/DocsRoom/documents/18027.
6. Further guidance, especially concerning specific types of products, can be found on the European Commission's website on EUROPA regarding ATEX: http://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/mechanical-engineering/atex/.

Any query can be addressed to the GROW ATEX functional mailbox: GROW-DIR-ATEX@ec.europa.eu.

             

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Introduction

The objective of these ATEX Guidelines is to clarify certain matters and procedures referred to in Directive 2014/34/EU¹ concerning equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres. The Guidelines should be used in conjunction with the Directive itself and with the European Commission's document "The 'Blue Guide' on the implementation of EU product rules"^[4].

These Guidelines are not only for the use of Member States’ competent authorities, but also by the main economic operators concerned, such as manufacturers, their trade associations, bodies in charge of the preparation of standards as well as those entrusted with the conformity assessment procedures.

First and foremost, this document must ensure that, when correctly applied, the Directive leads to the removal of obstacles and difficulties related to the free circulation (free movement) of goods within the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). It should be noted that the statements in these Guidelines refer only to the application of Directive 2014/34/EU unless otherwise indicated. All parties concerned should be aware of other requirements, which may also apply.

Directive 2014/34/EU is a total harmonisation directive and a "New Approach"^[5] directive aligned to the New Legislative Framework. It lays down essential health and safety requirements and leaves it to standards, primarily European harmonised standards, to give technical expression of the relevant requirements contained in the Directive.

The ATEX Directive 2014/34/EU replaced the previous ATEX Directive 94/9/EC which was applicable between 1 July 2013 and 19 April 2016. As of 20 April 2016, Directive 2014/34/EU, as transposed into the national legislation of the EU Member States, is the sole legal instrument applicable.

The reader will want to be aware that where ATEX products are intended for use in a place of work, national and EU legislation, intended to ensure the safety of employees, will usually apply. In this respect different legislation applies to land based industries, the underground extraction of coal and other minerals, and offshore oil production^[6].

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Table of Content

Preamble to the ATEX Directive - The Citations and the Recitals

	§ 1	The citations
	§ 2	The legal basis of the ATEX Directive
	§ 3	The recitals
Recital 1	§ 4	The previous ATEX Directive
Recitals 2, 3	§ 5	The New Legislative Framework
Recitals 4, 5	§ 6	The scope of the ATEX Directive
Recital 6	§ 7	Health and safety
Recital 7	§ 8	Protection against explosion hazards
Recitals 8, 9	§ 9	Safety of ATEX equipment and protective systems: essential health and safety requirements
Recitals 10, 11, 12	§ 10	Responsibilities of economic operators
Recital 13	§ 11	Responsibilities of manufacturers: conformity assessment
Recitals 14, 15	§ 12	Responsibilities of importers
Recital 16	§ 13	Responsibilities of distributors
Recital 17	§ 14	Obligations of the manufacturer for economic operators
Recitals 18, 19	§ 15	Information and traceability of products for market surveillance
Recital 20	§ 16	Essential health and safety requirements: presumption of conformity from harmonised standards
Recital 21	§ 17	Formal objections to harmonised standards
Recital 22	§ 18	Conformity assessment procedures
Recitals 23, 24	§ 19	EU declaration of conformity
Recital 25 Recitals 26, 27, 28, 29,	§ 20	The CE marking
30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35	§ 21	Conformity assessment bodies: notified bodies
Recitals 36, 37	§ 22	Compliance of products placed on the market and market surveillance
Recitals 38, 39, 40	§ 23	The safeguard clause procedure
Recitals 41, 42, 43, 44	§ 24	Implementing powers and procedures
Recitals 45, 46	§ 25	The ATEX Committee
Recital 47	§ 26	Implementing acts concerning measures on noncompliant products
Recital 48	§ 27	Enforcement: penalties
Recital 49	§ 28	Transitional arrangements
Recital 50	§ 29	Subsidiarity and proportionality
Recitals 51, 52	§ 30	Transposition

The articles of 2014/34/EU directive

Article 1	§ 31	General provisions
	§ 32	Products covered by the ATEX Directive
	§ 33	Used, repaired or modified products and spare parts
	§ 34	Place of intended use
	§ 35	Interface to different potentially explosive atmospheres
	§ 36	Safety devices, controlling devices and regulating devices as defined in Article 1(b)
	§ 37	Products excluded from the scope of the ATEX Directive
	§ 38	Examples of equipment not covered by Directive 2014/34/EU
Article 2	§ 39	Definitions
	§ 40	Equipment
	§ 41	"Own" ignition source
	§ 42	Non-electrical equipment
	§ 43	Electrical equipment
	§ 44	Combined equipment (assemblies)
	§ 45	Protective systems
	§ 46	Components
	§ 47	Difference between equipment and components. Specific requirements given in the manual of products
	§ 48	Examples and problems on equipment and components
	§ 49	Explosive atmosphere and potentially explosive atmosphere
	§ 50	Potentially explosive atmosphere in the sense of Directive 2014/34/EU
	§ 51	Equipment group and category
	§ 52	Intended use
	§ 53	Making available on the market
	§ 54	Placing on the market
	§ 55	Manufacturer
	§ 56	Authorised representative
	§ 57	Importer
	§ 58	Distributor
	§ 59	Economic operators
	§ 60	Technical specification
	§ 61	Harmonised standard
	§ 62	Accreditation and national accreditation body
	§ 63	Conformity assessment
	§ 64	Recall and withdrawal
	§ 65	Union harmonisation legislation
	§ 66	CE marking
Article 3	§ 67	Making available on the market and putting into service
	§ 68	Making available ATEX products on the market
	§ 69	Placing ATEX products on the market
	§ 70	Putting ATEX products into service
Article 4	§ 71	Essential health and safety requirements
Article 5	§ 72	Free movement
	§ 73	Obligations of economic operators
Article 6	§ 74	Obligations of manufacturers
	§ 75	Use of subcontractor services by a manufacturer
	§ 76	Manufacturers and conformity assessment based on quality assurance (Annex IV, Annex VII)
	§ 77	Certificates and CE marking without the name of the original manufacturer
	§ 78	Manufacturing of ATEX products for own use
	§ 79	The official languages of the European Union
Article 7	§ 80	Authorised representatives
Article 8	§ 81	Obligations of importers
Article 9	§ 82	Obligations of distributors
Article 10	§ 83	Obligations of manufacturers for importers and distributors
Article 11	§ 84	Identification of economic operators
	§ 85	Conformity of the product
Article 12	§ 86	Presumption of conformity of products
	§ 87	European harmonised standards in the Official Journal
	§ 88	Standardisation programme
Article 13	§ 89	Conformity assessment procedures
	§ 90	Conformity assessment procedures in the case of different categories within one product
	§ 91	Clarification for equipment with categories 2 or 3
	§ 92	Exceptional derogations of the conformity assessment procedures
Article 14	§ 93	EU declaration of conformity
	§ 94	Written attestation of conformity for components
Articles 15, 16	§ 95	The CE marking. Rules and conditions for affixing the CE marking and other markings
	§ 96	Notification of conformity assessment bodies: notified bodies
Article 17	§ 97	Notification
Article 18	§ 98	Notifying authorities
Article 19	§ 99	Requirements relating to notifying authorities
Article 20	§ 100	Information obligation on notifying authorities
Article 21	§ 101	Requirements relating to notified bodies
Article 22	§ 102	Presumption of conformity of notified bodies
Article 23	§ 103	Subsidiaries of and subcontracting by notified bodies
Articles 24, 25	§ 104	Application for notification and notification procedure
Article 26	§ 105	Identification numbers and lists of notified bodies. The NANDO database
Article 27	§ 106	Changes to notification
Article 28	§ 107	Challenge of the competence of notified bodies
Article 29	§ 108	Operational obligations of notified bodies
	§ 109	Documents issued by the notified body
	§ 110	Provision of evaluation and test results with EUtype examination certificates
	§ 111	Acceptance of test results of manufacturers by a notified body

	§ 112	Minimum content of a European standardised ATEX test and assessment report
	§ 113	Retention of technical documentation
Article 30	§ 114	Appeal against decisions of notified bodies
Article 31	§ 115	Information obligation on notified bodies
Article 32	§ 116	Exchange of experience
Article 33	§ 117	Coordination of notified bodies. The European ATEX Notified Bodies Group (ExNBG)
	§ 118	Status and use of ExNBG Clarification Sheets issued by the European ATEX Notified Bodies Group
	§ 119	EU market surveillance, control of products entering the EU market and EU safeguard procedure
Article 34	§ 120	EU market surveillance and control of products entering the EU market
Article 35	§ 121	Procedure for dealing with products presenting a risk at national level
Article 36	§ 122	EU safeguard procedure
Article 37	§ 123	Compliant products which present a risk
Article 38	§ 124	Formal non-compliance
	§ 125	Committee, transitional and final provisions
Article 39	§ 126	The ATEX Committee
Article 40	§ 127	Enforcement: penalties
Article 41	§ 128	Transitional provisions
Article 42	§ 129	Transposition
Article 43	§ 130	Repeal
Article 44	§ 131	Entry into force and application
Article 45	§ 132	Addresses

The Annexes to the ATEX Directive

 

The Annexes to the ATEX Directive

Annex I - Criteria determining the classification of equipment-groups into categories

                                                     § 133 Classification of equipment-groups into categories

1.  Equipment-group I

§  134 Equipment-group I, category M1

 § 135 Equipment-group I, category M2

2.  Equipment-group II

§  136 Equipment-group II, category 1

 § 137 Equipment-group II, category 2

 § 138 Equipment-group II, category 3

Annex II - Essential health and safety requirements relating to the design and construction of equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres

 § 139 Essential health and safety requirements

 § 140 Preliminary observations

 

1. Common requirements for Equipment and protective systems

 

1.0.	§ 141	General requirements
1.0.1., 1.0.2.	§ 142	Principles of integrated explosion safety. Risk assessment for ATEX products
1.0.3., 1.0.4.	§ 143	Special conditions: checking, maintenance, surrounding area
1.0.5.	§ 144	Marking
	§ 145	CE marking
	§ 146	Supplementary/specific marking
	§ 147	Additional marking for standards
	§ 148	Marking of small products
	§ 149	Marking of components
	§ 150	Marking of assemblies
1.0.6.	§ 151	Instructions
1.1., 1.1.1, 1.1.2., 1.1.3	§ 152	Selection of materials
1.2., 1.2.1., 1.2.2.	§ 153	Design and construction
1.2.3.	§ 154	Enclosed structures and prevention of leaks
1.2.4	§ 155	Dust deposits
1.2.5	§ 156	Additional means of protection
1.2.6	§ 157	Safe opening
1.2.7	§ 158	Protection against other hazards
1.2.8	§ 159	Overloading of equipment
1.2.9	§ 160	Flameproof enclosure systems
1.3.	§ 161	Potential ignition sources
1.3.1.	§ 162	Hazards arising from different ignition sources
1.3.2.	§ 163	Hazards arising from static electricity
1.3.3.	§ 164	Hazards arising from stray electric and leakage currents
1.3.4.	§ 165	Hazards arising from overheating
1.3.5.	§ 166	Hazards arising from pressure compensation operations
1.4., 1.4.1., 1.4.2.	§ 167	Hazards arising from external effects

1. 5., 1.5.1., 1.5.2., 1.5.3.  § 168 Requirements in respect of safety-related devices

1.5.4.	§ 169	Control and display units
1.5.5., 1.5.6, 1.5.7.	§ 170	Requirements in respect of devices with a measuring function for explosion protection
1.5.8.	§ 171	Risks arising from software
1.6., 1.6.1., 1.6.2.	§ 172	Integration of safety requirements relating to the system
1.6.3.	§ 173	Hazards arising from power failure
1.6.4.	§ 174	Hazards arising from connections
1.6.5.	§ 175	Placing of warning devices as part of equipment

1. Supplementary requirements in respect of equipment

§  176 Supplementary requirements in respect of equipment

1. Supplementary requirements in respect of protective systems
   • 177 Supplementary requirements in respect of protective systems

Annex III - Module B: EU-type examination

1., 2.                                        § 178 EU-type examination

3.                                                           § 179 The application for EU-type examination

4.                                                           § 180 Tasks to be performed by the notified body

5.                                                           § 181 The evaluation report

6.                                                           § 182 The EU-type examination certificate

§ 183 The EU-type examination certificate and the responsibilities of stakeholders

7.                                                           § 184 Changes and modifications

§ 185 Obligations for the notified body 186 Validity of EU-type examination certificates

8.                                                           § 187 Obligations for the manufacturer

9.                                                           § 188 Authorised representative

Annex IV - Module D: Conformity to type based on quality assurance of the production process

1.            § 189 Conformity to type based on quality assurance of the production process

2.                                                           § 190 Manufacturing

3.                                                           § 191 Quality system

4.                                                          

§ 192 Surveillance under the responsibility of the notified body

 

5.                                                           § 193 CE-marking, EU declaration of conformity and attestation of conformity

6.                                                           § 194 Obligations for the manufacturer: retention of documentation - quality assurance

7.                                                           § 195 Obligations for the notified body

8.                                                           § 196 Authorised representative

Annex V - Module F: Conformity to type based on product verification

1.                                                           § 197 Conformity to type based on product verification

2.                                                           § 198 Manufacturing

3., 4.                                        § 199 Verification

5.                                                           § 200 CE-marking, EU declaration of conformity and attestation of conformity

6.                                                           § 201 The notified body’s identification number

7.                                                           § 202 Authorised representative

Annex VI - Module C1: Conformity to type based on internal production control plus supervised product testing

1.                                                           § 203 Conformity to type based on internal production control plus supervised product testing

2.                                                           § 204 Manufacturing

3.                                                           § 205 Product checks

4.                                                           § 206 CE-marking, EU declaration of conformity and attestation of conformity

5.                                                           § 207 Authorised representative

Annex VII - Module E: Conformity to type based on product quality assurance

1.                                                           § 208 Conformity to type based on product quality assurance

2.                                                           § 209 Manufacturing

3.                                                           § 210 Quality system

4.                                                           § 211 Surveillance under the responsibility of the notified body

5.                                                           § 212 CE-marking, EU declaration of conformity and attestation of conformity

6.                                                           § 213 Obligations for the manufacturer

7.                                                           § 214 Obligations for the notified body

8.                                                           § 215 Authorised representative

Annex VIII - Module A: Internal product control

1.                                                           § 216 Internal product control

2.                                                           § 217 Technical documentation

3.                                                           § 218 Manufacturing

4.                                                           § 219 CE-marking, EU declaration of conformity and attestation of conformity

5.                                                          

§ 220 Authorised representative

 

Annex IX - Module G: Conformity based on unit verification

1.                                                           § 221 Conformity based on unit verification

2.                                                           § 222 Technical documentation

3.                                                           § 223 Manufacturing

4.                                                           § 224 Verification

5.                                                           § 225 CE-marking, EU declaration of conformity and attestation of conformity

6.                                                           § 226 Authorised representative

 

Annex X - EU declaration of conformity	§ 227 The EU declaration of conformity
Annex XI	§ 228 References of the repealed Directive
Annex XII - Correlation table	§ 229 Correlation table
Statement of the European Parliament	§ 230 Statement of the European Parliament

Application of Directive 2014/34/EU alongside others that may apply

§ 231	Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive 2014/30/EU (EMC)
§ 232	Low Voltage Directive 2014/35/EU (LVD)
§ 233	Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC
§ 234	Transport of Dangerous Goods Directives 2008/68/EC and 98/91/EC (ADR)
§ 235	Personal Protective Equipment Directive 89/686/EEC (PPE)
§ 236	Pressure Equipment Directive 2014/68/EU (PED) and Simple Pressure Vessels Directive 2014/29/EU (SPVD)
§ 237	Radio Equipment Directive 2014/53/EU (RED)
§ 238	Gas Appliances Directive 2009/142/EC (GAD)
§ 239	Construction Products Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 (CPR)
§ 240	Marine Equipment Directive 2014/90/EU (MED)

 

Application of Directive 2014/34/EU to specific equipment

§ 241	Inerting systems
§ 242	Paint spray booths
§ 243	Filter units and vented silo bins
§ 244	Gas turbines
§ 245	Steam turbines
§ 246	Petrol pumps
§ 247	Cables
§ 248	Rotating mechanical seals
§ 249	Bucket elevators
§ 250	Fork lift trucks
§ 251	Transportable, pressurised cabins ("modules")
§ 252	Automatically lubricating systems
§ 253	Electrical trace heating systems
§ 254	Motor protection for category 3 motors
§ 255	Wi-Fi access points
§ 256	Refrigerators and storage cabinets for volatile substances

 

Borderline list – ATEX products

Specific marking of explosion protection (ex) drawn from Directive 84/47/EEC

Useful ATEX websites