CE Marking

daRobot

I'm going to be importing a product line from Asia that requires CE marking.

The manufacturer has told me that they haven't applied for it, but a German distributor of their products has done successfully.

Would I be correct in saying, that as I am importing, and selling the exact same product that the German distributor has already gotten CE approval for, that I would not require it, as i'm obviously also in the EU?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

BrensBenz

The main criteria for CE approval is safety. I could be wrong but, as far as I know, the "design" needs to be CE compliant. There may be (or have been) audits at the manufacturers in order to verify compliance with CE requirements but, if your German contact has already gone through the CE marking process, that design should be acceptable for sale and use anywhere in the EU.
Slightly off topic - sorry - but it's a little short-sighted for the manufacturer not to pursue CE compliance. What approvals have been achieved? In my experience, reluctance to pursue approvals is sometimes due to frequent design changes, each thought to require a formal compliance review. However, if the CE criteria are unchanged, e.g. the design changes are cosmetic or functional / safety improvements, the CE status should remain valid, thereby avoiding the extra cost of renewing CE approvals.

daRobot

Yep, I thought the manufacturer would have pursued CE approval, but this particular product, is generally only aimed at their domestic market, but there's an opportunity to bring it to a new one.

The product i'm after is exactly the same design as the German importer, so it seems i'm good to go

BrensBenz

I'm still just a little uneasy about the currency of my knowledge on this. It might be wise to contact NSAI, Lloyds or other notified bodies for up-to-date information.

Best of luck with your enterprise.

http://www.nsai.ie/
http://www.lr.org/compliance/

ted1

Is it an OEM product. Have the germans rebranded it?