5 misconceptions about product legislation
Product legislation is quite a complex landscape. Especially if it is not your core business. In practice, we therefore often hear misunderstandings regarding product legislation. Below are some common misconceptions.
- 1
Products are covered in one directive
Products may be part of many product categories and therefore have to comply to multiple directives and/or regulations. Fortunately, some of these documents exclude each other. It is important to fully understand which directives and regulations your product has to comply with.
- 2
All testing laboratories can proof CE conformity
Depending on the legislation your product has to comply with, and whether or not harmonized standards for that legislation are available, there may be a need for an accredited testing laboratory and the results may have to be evaluated by a Notified Body. To see which standards Kiwa is accredited for, see: Cyber Security Services.
- 3
If a harmonized standard is available, it can always be used
Depending on the scope of the harmonized standard, a better fitting standard may be selected by a Notified Body. If your product is out of scope of all harmonized standards for a given legislation, or if a harmonized standard for the legislation does not exist, you may require a Notified Body to get approved.
- 4
A Notified Body does market surveillance
Market surveillance is left to national authorities like the Dutch Rijksdienst Digitale Infrastructuur (RDI). A notified body may be contacted to verify the results of a market surveillance authority or to do market research. However, it is not a Notified Body’s purpose to monitor the market independently.
- 5
An importer of a product is not responsible
Anyone who imports a product to the EU in order to sell it is responsible for the product when it enters the market. Therefore, it is very important to check if the CE marking is applied, all the documentation is in order and the necessary testing for the product has been performed.
