Conformity assessment is the process carried out by the manufacturer of demonstrating whether specified requirements such as PED relating to a pressure equipment have been fulfilled. Conformity assessment is the responsibility of the manufacturer. Should a manufacturer subcontract design or production, he still remains responsible for the execution of conformity assessment.
Procedures of conformity assessment
The essential objective of a conformity assessment procedure is to demonstrate that pressure equipments placed on the EU market conform to the requirements expressed in the provisions of the PED legislation. A pressure equipment is subjected to conformity assessment both during the design and production phase. The PED contains a total of 13 conformity assessment procedures (modules or module combinations), except for Module A, all other modules involve a notified body (see below picture). Some conformity assessment procedures are in two steps: first EU-examination of a production type (Module B) or EU-examination of a design type (Module B), then, determination of the conformity of the manufactured products against the approved specimen.
Notes:
- The conformity assessment procedures to be applied to an item of pressure equipment shall be determined by the category in which the equipment is classified.
- For the conformity assessment, the manufacturer can select a module or module combination that is possible for the existing category of the pressure equipment. The possible modules or module combinations that can be selected for the respective category are equivalent.
- In the case of pressure assemblies
- each individual piece of pressure equipment can be subjected to an assessment procedure or
- an overall assessment according to the highest category of installed pressure equipment
- The modules of the higher category (greater hazard potential) include the modules of the lower category.
