CE MARKING IN
APPLIANCES BURNING GASEOUS FUELS
The Gas Appliances Directive 2016/426/EU (GAD) constitutes the legal framework for gas appliances in the EU Member States. It aims at providing safe and secure movement in the EU market for appliances and fittings.
The GAD covers the essential requirements for an appliance or a fitting when it is placed on the EU market. It does not indicate how these requirements must be met, thus leaving flexibility to manufacturers about technical solutions to be adopted. For easy access to the market, Harmonised Standards, the reference numbers of which have been published in the Official Journal of the EU, provide a presumption of conformity with the directive’s essential requirements. Using harmonized standards is voluntary, and the standardisation work is being coordinated by the CEN.
This directive applies to a range of gas burning appliances that operate up to a normal temperature of 105 degrees Celsius and some fittings including safety, regulating and controlling devices and sub-assemblies. The directive became mandatory as of 1996, so all gas appliances being sold and within the scope of the directive, must be CE marked. However, there are some exclusions from the directive including products for industrial use on industrial premises. The directive defines “gas” as a fuel which is in gaseous state at 15 degrees Celsius at a pressure of 1 bar, therefore excluded appliances that run on natural gas and LPG from others. When second-hand products are sold, they are only required to comply with the essential requirements of the directive. Manufacturers of new products must meet protection requirements which are checked through type testing, compile a technical file and mark the product with a CE logo. This directive requires type testing and being approved with a selected conformity module by an independent body notified by the European Commission.
The GAD gives product categories, which are within the scope, but does not contain lists of specific products covered. However, in order to facilitate judgement whether an individual product is covered by the Directive, an illustrative list has been drawn up by all parties concerned. A note to the list explains the meanings of some words used. Furthermore, some specific elements of certain product categories are clarified on separate guidance sheets
PRODUCTS DEFINED WITHIN GAD SCOPE
- Condensing and non-condensing (convectional) combi boilers
- Gas-fired central heating boilers
- Water heaters
- Domestic gas heated burners, ovens
- Gas heated catering equipment (open burners, work burners, plate grills, solid tops, double boilers, etc.)
- Hoods
- Gas taps and valves (except ball valves in the scope of EN 331)
- Control and supervision devices of gas fired heating and cooking appliances
- Camp stoves
- Gas heated chargrills and barbecues, and similar gas burning (not intended for industrial use) products are evaluated within the scope of this Directive.
CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT TABLES (MODULAR SYSTEM)
- EU TYPE EXAMINATION – MODULE B: It covers Type tests.
- EU DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY TO TYPE – MODULE C: Conformity to type based on internal production control plus supervised product checks at random intervals.
- QUALITY ASSURANCE OF THE PRODUCTION PROCESS – MODULE D: It is applied based on the Quality Management System.
- PRODUCT QUALITY ASSURANCE – MODULE E: It is applied on the end product based on the Quality Management System.
- EU VERIFICATION – MODULE F: It must be applied on every statistics-based device.
- EU UNIT VERIFICATION – MODULE G: It is product-based and all required experiments must be performed.
