Dear Members I am looking for information on whether the CE Marking ATEX Directive 2014/34/EU is applicable to Airborne Military Products or not? This is because I have no previous experience of applying or assessment of the ATEX Directive. The Military Product is a detachable Airborne Launcher that is designed to be fitted to an Air Platform. The Airborne Launcher is designed to fire Explosive Munitions under control of the Air Platform. The ATEX Directive 2014/34/EU Chapter 1 Article 1 Scope clause 2 (b) states "equipment and protective systems where the explosion hazard results exclusively from the presence of explosive substances or unstable chemical substances.". In my research I have found technical articles on the ATEX Directive which state that "equipment using explosive products" are excluded from the scope of the directive! My initial thoughts where that this exclusion applied but the use "exclusively" in the statement is causing me concern. This is because the Airborne Launcher is also operating in an air platform fuel-air explosive atmosphere and not "exclusively" in the presence the Explosive Munitions. But I could find no further clarification on this in the EU ATEX Guidelines. Note the Explosive Munition is covered by a separate CE Marking assessment and therefore is not part of this assessment. This military product is not covered by the Article 346 exemption for military equipment but has its own documented Safety Case. It has also been assessed for potential sources of ignition which concluded that the potential ignition sources on their own could not facilitate the ignition in an air platform fuel-air explosive atmosphere. Therefore based on this information should this product be included or excluded from the scope of the ATEX Directive? Finally if it is within the scope of the ATEX Directive would I be required to involve a Notified Body in the assessment or not? Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. If you would prefer to contact me off-line my contact Email addresses are listed below and I will not put any off-line replies on the PSES Server.
Regards Philip Stevenson Work Email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Home Email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <[email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://www.ieee-pses.org/list.html (including how to unsubscribe) List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <[email protected]> Mike Cantwell <[email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <[email protected]> David Heald: <[email protected]>
