Pressure Equipment Directive

The Pressure Equipment Directive 97/23/EC (PED) ^[1] of the EU sets out the standards for the design and fabrication of pressure equipment ("pressure equipment" means steam boilers, pressure vessels, piping, safety valves and other components and assemblies subject to pressure loading) generally over one litre in volume and having a maximum pressure more than 0.5 bar gauge. It also sets the administrative procedures requirements for the "conformity assessment" of pressure equipment, for the free placing on the European market without local legislative barriers. It has been mandatory throughout the EU since 30 May 2002. This is enacted in the UK as the Pressure Equipment Regulations (PER). The set out standards and regulations regarding pressure vessels and boilers safety is also very close to the US standards defined by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). This enables most international inspection agencies to provide both verification and certification services to assess compliance to the different pressure equipment directives.^[2]

Contents

1. Scope and Definitions (including exemptions of its scope)
2. Market surveillance
3. Technical requirements: classification of pressure equipment according to type and content.
4. Free movement
5. Presumption of conformity
6. Committee on technical standards and regulations
7. Committee on Pressure Equipment
8. Safeguard clause
9. Classification of pressure equipment
10. Conformity assessment
11. European approval for materials
12. Notified bodies
13. Recognized third-party organizations
14. User inspectorates
15. CE marking
16. Unduly affixed CE marking
17. International cooperation
18. Decisions entailing refusal or restriction
19. Repeal
20. Transposition and transitional provisions
21. Addressees of the Directive: the EU member states for implementation in national laws and/or regulations.

• Annex I: Essential safety requirements
  1. General
  2. Design
  3. Manufacturing
  4. Materials
  5. Fired or otherwise heated pressure equipment with a risk of overheating (article 3.1)
  6. Piping
  7. Specific quantitative requirements for certain pressure equipment
• Appendix II: Conformity assessment tables. Actually diagrams of pressure vs. volume (or diameter for pipes), for classification of equipment in four classes.
• Appendix III: Conformity assessment procedures
• Appendix IV: Minimum criteria to be met when designating the notified bodies (article 12) and the recognized third party organizations (article 13)
• Appendix V: Criteria to be met when authorizing user inspectorates (article 14)
• Appendix VI: CE marking
• Appendix VII: Declaration of conformity

Future

Directive 97/23/EC will be fully superseded by directive 2014/68/EU from July 20, 2016 onwards. Article 13 of the new directive (classification of pressure equipment) has already been in effect since June 1, 2015, replacing article 9 of directive 97/23/EC.^[3]

See also

• Pressure vessel
• EN 13445

References

1. European Commission Pressure Equipment Directive (PED): overview
2. Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspection According to ASME
3. European Commission: Pressure Equipment Directive

External links

• Pressure Equipment Directive 97/23/EC categorization software
• Pressure Equipment Directive (PED) Overview
• Essential links for CE Marking in the UK