IECEx System overview and status report

The IECEx System is an international conformity assessment scheme intended to facilitate global trade in electrical equipment for use in hazardous locations. The scheme provides a structured system to achieve global acceptance for explosion-protected equipment designed for hazardous locations. Scheme members declare that they will abolish national differences for product requirements in their countries during the coming years. This international scheme will greatly impact the free trade of explosion-protected apparatus needed for the petrochemical and chemical industry if the scheme members recognize and accept harmonized worldwide International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards. The goal is to develop and maintain uniform product evaluations to protect users against products that are not compliant with the required level of safety.

Markets for trade in explosion-protected apparatus are growing as a result of global market integration and industry mergers across national and regional boundaries. The abolition of differences of the relevant national standards is therefore especially important for products used in hazardous locations. Furthermore, relationships between conformity-assessment bodies, such as testing agencies, can help accelerate the merging of markets. This is the reason to establish a global scheme of accredited certification bodies and testing laboratories. Subsequently, the benefit of harmonized IEC standards will be realized, making it easy to find a product in the global market that users can trust.

Because many countries have their own national standards and certification schemes, the movement of Ex equipment between countries is often affected by the need to re-certify or retest, regardless of previous assessments, which adds to the final cost. Time is wasted by mostly formal, nontechnical, approval procedures, and the final market access is delayed. The IECEx System provides international confidence among certification and testing agencies and the international Ex industry. This enables the facilitation of international Ex equipment trade by eliminating the need for duplication of testing and certification redundancy. It is a voluntary scheme, with the intent of providing an internationally accepted means of proving product compliance with an IEC Standard. The success criterion is the trust of the users in the reliability and quality of the scheme.