It is mandatory for many products to get the CE certification to enter the European market. If a product is CE certified, it means that it satisfies all the norms of European health, safety and environmental directives laid by the relevant legislation. Even the foreign companies must get their manufactured products CE certified in order to sell them in the European markets without any rechecking. What do the initials CE stand for?
It is for a French word called “Conformite Europeenne”. There are certain conformity tests which need to be cleared by the manufacturers for their products. Once they clear the conformity assessment test, they can affix CE on their products. In the current scenario CE certification provides product access not only in the 27 countries of the EU but also other countries that share a close proximity with the European market.

For CE marking, there are two types of directives prescribed: the New Approach Directives and the Global Approach Directives. The Global Directives are the older ones.  To get the CE certification, the manufacture must first identify which one of these directives applies to his product line. Only the products that are covered by the scope of these directives need to have the CE certification. If your product does not come under these directives then, you need not apply for any CE marking.

To know whether your product lies in any of these directives, you can access the “Blue Guide” given by the European Commission. It is a guide to the Implementation of Directives Based on the New Approach and Global Approach. You can easily read it online or download it from the Commission Website. If you find it too difficult to understand the laws, then you van also take the assistance of the various CE Marking consultancies. Their services are available online also. They can do the entire search for your product and even get your product CE marked in case it comes within the scope of any of the directives.  Even for imported goods, you need to do the same as it is the responsibility of the importer to see if his product has the CE certification correctly.   

Once you have identified the laws applicable on your product, you can start with the process of getting the CE certification. For this your product will have to be tested by either a third party or by the European Lab for quality conformity. After all this your product is ready to hit the European markets.

Author writes for ce marking, ce mark and ce marking consultancy.

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