Covering the documentation for both UKEX and ATEX this section is primarily aimed at site owners and end users', although it is of interest to systems integrators and panel builders who may have to supply the appropriate documentation to the end user.
Documentation required for manufacturer product certification is currently outwith the scope of this site although some may wish to take heed of the end users expectations as it is not unusual for manufacturers to supply documentation which is not 100% compliant

The 'hazardous area' industry is a conservative industry and changes happen slowly and they are almost always backward compatible. However, there have been a number of step changes and the documentation requirements historically can be split into 4 distinct periods where there have been significant changes.

For supply to Europe the CE marking remains the same as per the 2014 Atex Directive. Even though former UK Certification companies had their Notified Body status revoked all have re-applied via offices based within Europe and the net result to clients is no change.

For the UK, Brexit has brought changes to the Hazardous area certification

UK Documentation Requirements

Documents required
Technical file to include:

  • UK or EU Declaration of Conformity(s)
  • Installation/Product Manual
  • EU or UK Type Certificate(s)
    or details in manual
    If intrinsic safety used
  • Descriptive System Documents

Now the UK has fully left the EU the Atex Directive is not applicable with the relevant regulation being Equipment and Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2016 which was ammended in "The Product Safety and Metrology etc. (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019" (Statutory Instrument No 696. Section 25).

This requires the use of UK Type Certificates and UK Declaration of conformity. However, following a u-turn by the government CE marked equipment (i.e Atex Certification) will be allowed indefinately.

Although the requirements for Hazardous Area certification are absolutely clear and Atex Type Certificates are allowed, the use of EU Declaration of Conformity for Atex labelled equipment within the UK is open to interpretation. The status of a legal document (the EU Declaration of Conformity) which is declaring to a directive which does not apply to the UK is undefined.
We are no longer part of the EU legal framework, Atex is a legal construct not product certification. That is rather academic as it is 'whatever the end user decides to accept' until it is tested in a court of law and the regulations are unclear, they just say a 'Declaration of Conformity'

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