Information Sheets

IMPORTANT CHANGES IN QA FOR ATEX PRODUCTS

Please note the following changes and developments which are relevant to the manufacture of ATEX products.

EC Declaration of Conformity (or Written Attestation of Conformity for Components)

We have been instructed by the UK authorities to include a review of EC Declarations of Conformity within the scope of the Quality System audits which we carry out on manufacturers for the purpose of Quality Assurance Notification.

We have been developing a suitable approach to this matter, which may already have been raised with you during recent audits. In future we will be including it in all audits.

As a manufacturer of equipment which complies with the ATEX Directive, your QA System should include appropriate controls to ensure that the Declaration is up-to-date, appropriately authorised, and used in the correct way.

The QA System is most likely to be affected in terms of defined responsibilities and procedures for document control. We have issued an Information Sheet on the subject which you can use to check the likely effect in your own case. This is available on our website: www.baseefa.com .

We want to assist you as much we can, and will be pleased to do so either during our audit visits or outside that process. Please contact Alan Barber at Baseefa, email: alan.barber@baseefa.com.

EECS Licence

The EECS Licence system ceased to operate in April of this year. As from then, the Baseefa and MECS marks are no longer registered by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), who maintained the system after the closure of EECS in 2003.

The use of the mark on a product no longer has the same meaning, i.e. that the product is the subject of a Certificate of Conformity issued by EECS (Baseefa or MECS), and that there is suitable surveillance over its manufacture.

Any pre-ATEX Certificates of Conformity issued by EECS are still valid in that they still confirm that the design of the product complies with a given standard, albeit an old standard that may or may not be acceptable in the marketplace. Certainly they no longer have any validity inside the EU. As from April 2007 however, the surveillance system will no longer be maintained.

To assist our customers who wish to continue to market products outside the EU using these old certificates, Baseefa is able to include them in the scope of our QA System auditing for ATEX and/or IECEx purposes, and show this in the Schedule of associated certificates which we issue. This will provide similar evidence as before that the manufacture of the product is subject to independent and expert surveillance. If this is likely to help you, please contact Christine Goodfellow by email at christine.goodfellow@baseefa.com

Quality Planning – Hazardous Area Products

Our new training course on this subject has been well received at events held both at Baseefa and at customers’ premises.

We believe it offers manufacturers a cost-effective way to improve the knowledge of staff and the effectiveness of QA activities in relation to the important area of safety and compliance of their products. Along with our Hazardous Area general awareness training course, this can help you to manage the risk involved in the manufacture of Ex products.

For more information on these courses, we would refer you to the training section of our website at www.baseefa.com , or contact Simon Davies at simon.davies@baseefa.com

If you would like to discuss the possibility of us delivering training of this type whilst we are already visiting your premises for audit purposes, please contact alan.barber@baseefa.com .