CE and other market requirements?

[matfox]

How about some market procedures, CE for example? That can be useful for a lot of engineers.

[steve_w]

This is the what they didn't teach you at university.

CE is very complicated if you don't know what to do; but it's not that complicated if you do professional designs and keep all your documentation up to date and read the EU documentation very carefully.  There are places in Australia that will do a fee for service for you to get CE.  If you really want to know PM me and i'll tell you some horror stories.

It is too complicated to post an answer that gives all the detail, suffice to say its like mating elephants, there is a lot of noise and sweat for a while then nothing happens for a couple of years.

If you want a real headache try and get something certified in the US, or if really like pain go to Canada, they are worse really pedantic and petty.  Don't get me started, I feel a rant coming on....... I'll go and have a bex and a good liedown.

[SeanB]

With all the stuff I see with a CE mark, i think it means Cheaply Engineered more than anything.

You can put a CE mark on anything, as there are so many categories, it will be able to conform with one.  CE standards for ink, printing, cardboard boxes................

[T4P]

With all the stuff I see with a CE mark, i think it means Cheaply Engineered more than anything.

You can put a CE mark on anything, as there are so many categories, it will be able to conform with one.  CE standards for ink, printing, cardboard boxes................

Everytime i see CE i tend to think 'China Engineering'

[PedroDiogo]

I didn't knew about this until I read the post on Raspberry Pi blog, but there seems to exist some confusion about the CE mask, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_mark#Misuse

Most likely those poorly designed products you see containing a "CE" symbol really mean it is a China Export product
 

[Neilm]

The CE mark is very simple to understand. When it is on a product it says that the company that places the product on the market is saying that the product meets all the relevant EU requirements. That last bit is where all the problems are.

For instance - lab test equipment has to meet the low voltage directive and the EMC directive. If there are any moving parts I believe it has to meet the machinery directive. (Given the wording I have seen this could also mean that a multi-meter with a relay in it would have to meet the last.)

With out being an expert in the matter, it could cause more problems due to misunderstanding, not knowing the latest specs and of course the sheer number of different product types would cause all sorts of confusions. The requirements for a multi-meter are very different to the requirements for an air conditioning system.

Neil

[matfox]

What I'm looking answer for is: do I really need CE to sell my products and can I put CE on my product without making expensive laboratory tests?

[harnon]

This has already been discussed on the forum several times.  (try a search).

Short answer as I understand it is that in order to sell in the eu you need the ce mark. You can certify with an external provider or self-certify.  Self certification basically means that if asked you need to be able to provide documentation to prove you meet all the relevant directives.

As far as which directives apply, get some legal advice or do a heap of reading or both!

Good luck.