The Pressure Equipment Directive: from fluid group to CE mark
A small fitting arrives without a CE mark, so the dispute at goods-in is not about a defect — it is about a classification nobody made. Four inputs decide the category, and all four are things you already know about your own process.
The dispute at goods-in
A small fitting without a CE mark is usually compliant, not defective
A shut-off valve arrives, the inspector looks for a CE mark, finds none and stops the release. The line waits, the supplier is asked for a declaration, and the answer takes three days to say what the directive says in one sentence: this part must not carry it.
The directive is usually summarised as "anything under pressure needs CE". For a large share of the components in an ordinary process it says close to the opposite — and the share is largest exactly where small parts are reordered most often.
Which side of the line a component falls on follows from four inputs. Work them through once for your own service and the answer holds for every reorder afterwards.
- The directive covers placing on the market, not operation — that is a separate regime
- Fluid group 1 holds the hazardous substances, group 2 water, compressed air and most heat transfer media
- Pressure ratings, nominal sizes and materials are part of the specification on every position here
The sequence
How a component gets its classification
The order is fixed, because each answer narrows the chart you use for the next one.
Is it pressure equipment at all?
The threshold is a maximum allowable pressure above 0.5 bar over atmospheric. Below that, the directive simply does not apply. Note that this is the maximum allowable pressure of the equipment, not the pressure you happen to run it at.
Determine the fluid and its group
Group 1 for hazardous fluids, group 2 for the rest. This single decision can move the same valve two categories, because the charts for group 1 begin at much lower values.
Identify the type of equipment
Vessel, piping, safety accessory or pressure accessory — and whether the contents are gas or liquid. Fired or otherwise heated equipment has its own chart. Safety accessories are treated separately and often land in category IV regardless of size.
Read the chart with pressure and size
For vessels the product of pressure and volume, for piping the product of pressure and nominal diameter. The chart returns the category — or places the component below all of its lines.
Choose the conformity assessment route
The category determines which modules are permissible (Article 14). Above category I the manufacturer involves a notified body, either per unit or through an approved quality system, and the result is the declaration of conformity plus the CE mark.
The five outcomes
What each result means in practice
The interesting row is the first one. It is also the row that causes the most goods-in disputes.
| Classification | Notified body involved? | CE mark for the PED | Typical modules |
|---|---|---|---|
| Article 4(3) — sound engineering practice | No | Must not be applied for this directive | None; adequate instructions and manufacturer identification instead |
| Category I | No — internal production control | Yes | A |
| Category II | Yes, for surveillance or quality assurance | Yes | A2, D1, E1 |
| Category III | Yes | Yes | B + D, B + F, H |
| Category IV | Yes, with the widest involvement | Yes | B + D, B + F, G, H1 |
The expensive misunderstanding
Join five certified parts and you may have become the manufacturer
Buying CE-marked components and connecting them into a functional unit can create an assembly within the meaning of the directive. The assembly then needs its own conformity assessment, carried out by whoever puts it together and places it on the market.
That responsibility does not travel back to the component suppliers. It is the moment at which plant builders discover they are manufacturers in the legal sense — usually late, and usually with a delivery date already promised.
A CE mark that is present is no shortcut either: it may belong to a different directive entirely — EMC, ATEX or the machinery legislation. The mark alone never says which one it stands for.
- Ask which directive a CE mark refers to, not whether it is there
- For an assembly, the declaration is yours to issue, not your supplier’s
- Clarify the paperwork at enquiry stage — it costs a sentence there and weeks afterwards
Open books
Which documents a marketplace brings along, and who issues them
None of the following is supplied with an item through this catalogue today. That is not a limit of the format but its open slot: shukchok is an open marketplace for industrial goods, so a manufacturer or distributor who issues these papers lists here, keeps them on their own positions and ships through the same basket.
- No item carries a PED category or a classification statement in its product data
- No EU declaration of conformity is supplied with any item through this catalogue
- No inspection document under EN 10204 — neither 2.2, nor 3.1, nor 3.2
- No calibration certificates for measuring instruments
- No conformity assessment of assemblies, and no notified body file we could pass on
- No ATEX marking on any listed item — see our page on ATEX for what that means
Around this question
Where the classification meets the range
Two ways in
Classify once, then reorder without asking
Below the lines of the chart the purchase is a routine one, and every position here shows its pressure rating, its size and its material before you commit. Above them, the range needs suppliers who carry the files — if that is your workshop, the listing itself is free of charge.