All electrical products within the European Community should be marked with a CE label or stamp. The marking ensures that the equipment meets the requirements of the low voltage and electromagnetic compatibility directives of the EU in UK law.

Some equipment will carry a suffix ‘x’ after the certificate number. This denotes ‘special certification conditions’. These details are given on the certificate and on the installation leaflet. The conditions usually relate to cable entry, operation, lamps and maintenance conditions and must be observed by the user.

Some of the major certifying authorities in the EU and North American testing houses, and the marking they use, are given in the table below.

All equipment certified to the harmonised European Standards must carry the following information.

• Name of manufacturer
• Product reference and serial number
• Code and type of protection
• Gas group and temperature class
• Name of certifying authority and certificate number
• CENELEC symbol
• BASEEFA symbol
• Electrical rating