Explanatory Note
(This note is not part of the Regulations.)
1. These Regulations make further amendments to the Electrical Equipment for Explosive Atmospheres (Certification) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1990, S.R. 1990 No. 284, (“the principal Regulations”) to give effect, with respect to Northern Ireland, to the provisions of Commission Directive No. 98/65/EC (O.J. No. L257, 19.9.98, p. 29) which further adapts to technical progress Council Directive No. 82/130/EEC (O.J. No. L59, 2.3.82, p. 10) (“the Gassy Mines Directive”) concerning electrical equipment for use in potentially explosive atmospheres in mines susceptible to firedamp.
2. The principal Regulations enable a manufacturer to apply to the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (“the Executive”) for a certificate of conformity attesting that the electrical equipment, the subject of the application, conforms to the harmonised standards as defined in those Regulations. Regulation 3(2) of these Regulations extends the definition of the Gassy Mines Directive in the principal Regulations in order to bring into effect updated harmonised standards.
3. In respect of electrical equipment to which the Gassy Mines Directive applies, regulation 3(3) substitutes for regulation 12 in the principal Regulations (Transitional provisions) the following transitional arrangements:
(a)paragraph (2) enables a manufacturer of electrical equipment which applies to the Executive for a certificate of conformity to have that equipment certified by reference to the harmonised standards in the principal Regulations which are in force immediately before the coming into operation of these Regulations (in these Regulations referred to as “the unamended Regulations”). In that case the application is treated as if it had been made under the unamended Regulations. Paragraph (3) provides that applications for a certificate of conformity or for review before the coming into operation of these Regulations shall continue to be dealt with under the unamended Regulations;
(b)however, the Executive may not issue a certificate of conformity under either paragraph (2) or (3) after 30th June 2003 (paragraph (4));
(c)paragraph (5) provides that certificates of conformity issued before 1st July 2003, irrespective of whether they were issued before, on or after the coming into operation of these Regulations, shall be regarded as in force for the purposes of regulation 11 (Use of the distinctive Community mark), subject to regulation 6 (withdrawal of certificate), until 1st July 2003; and
(d)paragraph (6) preserves the position in respect of certificates of conformity issued in accordance with the transitional provisions of regulation 12 of the principal Regulations in respect of equipment to which the Gassy Mines Directive applies (as in operation immediately before 20th July 1992 and 21st August 1995) but includes provisions similar to those in paragraph (5) as regards the effectiveness of such certificates until 1st July 2003.
4. These Regulations also amend the Electricity at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1991 (S.R. 1991 No. 13) to extend the reference to the Gassy Mines Directive in regulation 19(2)(d) in order to incorporate a reference to Commission Directive No. 98/65/EC and provide for the enforcement thereof.