New regulations on PPE approved

Press Release

27 Feb 2016

25-Feb-2016 | 686-EN

BOENNIGHEIM (on) On 20.01.2016, the European Parliament approved the new Regulations on Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), which will come into force officially 20 days after being published in the Official Journal of the EU. It will become effective 24 months after coming into force and will then be mandatory for all EU member states. Unlike the PPE Directive 89/686/EEC, the new regulations do not need to be implemented in national law. Once approved by the EU Commission, they pass directly into the effective law of the EU member states. Until now, PPE has only been allowed to be sold in the European Economic Area if it complies with the requirements of the Directive 89/686/EEC. Supplying PPE that complies with this directive cannot be prevented for a period of 36 months after the new PPE regulations come into force. EC type-examination certificates that have already been issued may remain valid for 7 years after the regulations come into force, provided those EC type-examination certificates do not become invalid for any other reason.

In its capacity as Notified Body EU No. 0555, the Hohenstein Institute carries out prototype testing in accordance with the PPE Directive 89/686/EEC. The new legal requirements will be taken into account in the internal processes and procedures of its certification centre. This means that the experts at Hohenstein will still be able to offer their usual service with regard to personal protective equipment in future. On request, the Hohenstein Institute can provide detailed information about the certification procedure, e.g. about rights and obligations.

The new regulations can be read in various EU language versions on the website of the European Parliament:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+TA+P8-TA-2016-0012+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN

Point of contact at the certification centre:
Simone Trümper
Tel.: +49 7143 271-789
Email: [email protected]