{"id":1998,"date":"2025-04-23T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/?p=1998"},"modified":"2025-04-22T20:06:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T00:06:35","slug":"unregulated-certificates-warning-and-the-implications-under-eu-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/2025\/04\/23\/unregulated-certificates-warning-and-the-implications-under-eu-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Unregulated Certificates Warning and The Implications Under EU Law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Recently, the European Commission updated some of the guidance regarding the <a href=\"https:\/\/single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu\/sectors\/electrical-and-electronic-engineering-industries-eei\/electromagnetic-compatibility-emc-directive_en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">EMC<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu\/sectors\/mechanical-engineering\/equipment-potentially-explosive-atmospheres-atex_en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">ATEX<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu\/sectors\/electrical-and-electronic-engineering-industries-eei\/low-voltage-directive-lvd_en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Low Voltage<\/a> Directives (and others) to include a warning about <a href=\"https:\/\/single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu\/sectors\/electrical-and-electronic-engineering-industries-eei\/electromagnetic-compatibility-emc-directive_en#unregulated-certificates-warning\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">unregulated certificates<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The warning explains that voluntary certificates issued by certification bodies not designated as notified bodies under EU law are misleadingly presented for products subject to EU harmonization legislation. A <a href=\"https:\/\/single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu\/single-market\/goods\/building-blocks\/notified-bodies_en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">notified body<\/a> is an organization designated  with special credentials by one or more countries in the EU to assess the conformity of products before they are placed on the market. In most cases (almost all) you do not need a Notified Body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These certificates are not recognized as proof of compliance. Only notified bodies can issue EU type-examination certificates for products and only for product types for which they are listed under <a href=\"https:\/\/webgate.ec.europa.eu\/single-market-compliance-space\/notified-bodies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">NANDO<\/a> (New Approach Notified and Designated Organizations). <a href=\"https:\/\/single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu\/single-market\/european-standards\/harmonised-standards_en\" title=\"\">Harmonized standards<\/a> demonstrate that products, services, or processes comply with EU legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some third-party certifications are misleadingly labeled with terms like &#8220;certification&#8221; or &#8220;certificate,&#8221; like the certificate example included below. They are labeled with a <a href=\"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/ce-compliance-testing-accreditation-approval\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">CE marking<\/a> but in this context the CE marking is meaningless.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" src=\"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shutterstock_273385568-1024x684.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2001\" style=\"width:448px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shutterstock_273385568-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shutterstock_273385568-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shutterstock_273385568-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shutterstock_273385568-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/shutterstock_273385568-2048x1367.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>A device cannot carry a CE marking if it does not meet the requirements of the RoHS directive. RoHS is one of the legal directives a product must conform to bear the CE marking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The guidance on the referenced European Commission sites indicates that the EU is cracking down on these. The certificate below holds no legal weight, every CE marking Directive requires, with <strong><em>no exceptions<\/em><\/strong>, an EU declaration of conformity to be available with the product if the product warrants a CE marking. No EU declaration of conformity, no CE marking. There is no half-measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"525\" height=\"749\" src=\"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-4.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2124\" style=\"width:670px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-4.png 525w, https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-4-210x300.png 210w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Certificates like these can be deceptive. They look legitimate but are invalid as pertains any claim of CE marking compliance and could potentially stop your product in customs or by market surveillance authorities. The European Commission is clear about these documents; these &#8220;certificates&#8221; are not recognized as proof of compliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CONTACT F2 LABS FOR HELP, THIS IS WHAT WE DO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Want to discuss your project with us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can contact us at this <a href=\"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/contactx\" title=\"\">link<\/a>. Our phone number is 877-405-1580 and we are here to help you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently, the European Commission updated some of the guidance regarding the EMC, ATEX, and Low Voltage Directives (and others) to include a warning about unregulated certificates. The warning explains that voluntary certificates issued by certification bodies not designated as notified &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/2025\/04\/23\/unregulated-certificates-warning-and-the-implications-under-eu-law\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1,5,2],"tags":[125,9,141,10,31,222,25],"class_list":["post-1998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atex-directive-201434eu","category-ce-marking","category-emc-directive-201430eu","category-low-voltage-directive-201435eu","tag-atex","tag-ce","tag-ce-mark","tag-ce-marking","tag-emc","tag-emc-compliance","tag-low-voltage-directive-201435eu"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1998"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2171,"href":"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1998\/revisions\/2171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/f2labs.com\/technotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}