3.—(1) Subject to regulations 4 and 5, these Regulations apply to equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres, devices and components.
(2) For the purposes of these Regulations—
(a)“equipment” means machines, apparatus, fixed or mobile devices, control components and instrumentation thereof and detection or prevention systems which, separately or jointly, are intended for the generation, transfer, storage, measurement, control and conversion of energy or the processing of material and which are capable of causing an explosion through their own potential sources of ignition;
(b)“protective systems” means design units which are intended to do either or both of the following—
(i)to halt incipient explosions immediately;
(ii)to limit the effective range of explosion flames and explosion pressures,
and such protective systems may be integrated into equipment or separately placed on the market for use as autonomous systems;
(c)“devices” means safety devices, controlling devices and regulating devices intended for use outside potentially explosive atmospheres but required for or contributing to the safe functioning of equipment and protective systems with respect to the risks of explosion;
(d)“component” means any item essential to the safe functioning of equipment and protective systems but with no autonomous function;
(e)“intended use” means the use of equipment, protective systems and devices in accordance with the equipment-group and category and with all the information supplied by the manufacturer which is required for the safe functioning of equipment, protective systems and devices;
(f)“explosive atmosphere” means the mixture with air, under atmospheric conditions, of flammable substances in the form of gases, vapours, mists or dusts in which, after ignition has occurred, combustion spreads to the entire unburned mixture; and
(g)“potentially explosive atmosphere” means an atmosphere which could become explosive due to local and operational conditions.