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Equipment for explosive atmospheres (ATEX) directive

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  Directive

Equipment for explosive atmospheres (ATEX) Directive (2014/34/EU)

  Scope

This Directive shall apply to the following, hereinafter referred to as ‘products’:

  • Equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres;
  • Safety devices, controlling devices and regulating devices intended for use outside potentially explosive atmospheres but required for or contributing to the safe functioning of equipment and protective systems with respect to the risks of explosion;
  • Components intended to be incorporated into equipment and protective systems referred to in point (a).

EXCLUSIONS

This Directive shall not apply to:

  • Medical devices intended for use in a medical environment;
  • Equipment and protective systems where the explosion hazard results exclusively from the presence of explosive substances or unstable chemical substances;
  • Equipment intended for use in domestic and noncommercial environments where potentially explosive atmospheres may only rarely be created, solely as a result of the accidental leakage of fuel gas;
  • Personal protective equipment covered by Council Directive 89/686/EEC of 21 December 1989 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to personal protective equipment (1);
  • Seagoing vessels and mobile offshore units together with equipment on board such vessels or units;
  • Means of transport, i.e. vehicles and their trailers intended solely for transporting passengers by air or by road, rail or water networks, as well as means of transport in so far as such means are designed for transporting goods by air, by public road or rail networks or by water. Vehicles intended for use in a potentially explosive atmosphere shall not be excluded from the scope of this Directive;
  • The equipment covered by point (b) of Article 346(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

DEFINITIONS

For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions shall apply:

  • ‘Equipment’ means machines, apparatus, fixed or mobile devices, control components and instrumentation thereof and detection or prevention systems which, separately or jointly, are intended for the generation, transfer, storage, measurement, control and conversion of energy and/or the processing of material and which are capable of causing an explosion through their own potential sources of ignition;
  • ‘Protective systems’ means devices other than components of equipment which are intended to halt incipient explosions immediately and/or to limit the effective range of an explosion and which are separately made available on the market for use as autonomous systems;
  • ‘Components’ means any item essential to the safe functioning of equipment and protective systems but with no autonomous function;
  • ‘Explosive atmosphere’ means a mixture with air, under atmospheric conditions, of flammable substances in the form of gases, vapours, mists or dusts in which, after ignition has occurred, combustion spreads to the entire unburned mixture;
  • ‘Potentially explosive atmosphere’ means an atmosphere which could become explosive due to local and operational conditions;

  Description

A potentially explosive atmosphere exists when a mixture of air gases, vapours, mists, or dusts combine in a way that can ignite under certain operating conditions.

Equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres (ATEX) cover a range of products, including those used on fixed offshore platforms, petrochemical plants, mines, and flour mills, amongst others.

The ATEX Directive 2014/34/EU covers equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres. The Directive defines the essential health and saftey requirements and conformity assessment procedures, to be applied before products are placed on the EU market. It is aligned with the New Legislative Framework policy, and it is applicable from 20 April 2016, replacing the previous Directive 94/9/EC.

  Harmonised standards

EN 1127-2:2014 Explosive atmospheres - Explosion prevention and protection - Part 2: Basic concepts and methodology for mining
EN 1755:2015 Industrial Trucks - Safety requirements and verification - Supplementary requirements for operation in potentially explosive atmospheres
EN 1834-1:2000 Reciprocating internal combustion engines - Safety requirements for design and construction of engines for use in potentially explosive atmospheres - Part 1: Group II engines for use in flammable gas ...
EN 1834-2:2000 Reciprocating internal combustion engines - Safety requirements for design and construction of engines for use in potentially explosive atmospheres - Part 2: Group I engines for use in underground wor...
EN 1834-3:2000 Reciprocating internal combustion engines - Safety requirements for design and construction of engines for use in potentially explosive atmospheres - Part 3: Group II engines for use in flammable dust...
EN 1839:2017 Determination of the explosion limits and the limiting oxygen concentration(LOC) for flammable gases and vapours
EN 1953:2013 Atomising and spraying equipment for coating materials - Safety requirements
EN 13012:2012 Petrol filling stations - Construction and performance of automatic nozzles for use on fuel dispensers
EN 13237:2012 Potentially explosive atmospheres - Terms and definitions for equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres
EN 13616-1:2016 Overfill prevention devices for static tanks for liquid fuels - Part 1: Overfill prevention devices with closure device
Show all the standards...
EN 1127-2:2014
Explosive atmospheres - Explosion prevention and protection - Part 2: Basic concepts and methodology...
EN 1755:2015
Industrial Trucks - Safety requirements and verification - Supplementary requirements for operation ...
EN 1834-1:2000
Reciprocating internal combustion engines - Safety requirements for design and construction of engin...
EN 1834-2:2000
Reciprocating internal combustion engines - Safety requirements for design and construction of engin...
EN 1834-3:2000
Reciprocating internal combustion engines - Safety requirements for design and construction of engin...
EN 1839:2017
Determination of the explosion limits and the limiting oxygen concentration(LOC) for flammable gases...
EN 1953:2013
Atomising and spraying equipment for coating materials - Safety requirements
EN 13012:2012
Petrol filling stations - Construction and performance of automatic nozzles for use on fuel dispense...
EN 13237:2012
Potentially explosive atmospheres - Terms and definitions for equipment and protective systems inten...
EN 13616-1:2016
Overfill prevention devices for static tanks for liquid fuels - Part 1: Overfill prevention devices ...
Show all the standards...

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