Most industrial products require a CE MARKING to be marketed in the European Union, regardless of their country of origin. The CE Marking or CE Certificate of Conformity should not be confused with the Declaration of Conformity.
The CE Certificate of Conformity or CE Marking is the result of making a product comply with all the technical requirements demanded by each of the applicable directives (documentation, tests, and implementation of quality systems in some cases).
The EU declaration of conformity is a mandatory document that the manufacturer, or his authorized representative, must sign to declare that his products meet the requirements of the European Authorized Representative.
By signing the declaration of conformity, the manufacturer assumes full responsibility for the compliance of its product with the applicable EU legislation.
It is part of the technical documentation that must accompany every product upon entering the EU. This technical documentation provides information on the design, manufacture, and operation of a product, and must include all the data necessary to demonstrate that the product conforms to the applicable requirements, in this case, within the EU.
If we are manufacturers and we intend to introduce our product in the EU, or if we are businessmen established in the EU, recipients of products from outside the EU, there are certain rules that we must know, in relation to these issues.
In particular, the manufacturer must, and in the same sense, the recipient of its products must also require:
- prepare technical documentation before placing the product on the market.
- ensure that technical documentation (if they request to see it) is made available to market surveillance authorities as soon as the product is placed on the market.
- keep the technical documentation for ten years from the date the product is placed on the market (unless expressly specified otherwise).
Know more about declaration of conformity and templates
