SATRA Technology Europe now has the Notified Body number 2777 and has started to issue EU type-examination certificates for PPE including safety footwear.

A number of SATRA members sell safety footwear and other PPE products into the European Union (EU). Each of these products carries a CE mark supported by a type-examination certificate issued by SATRA. The type-examination certificates issued by SATRA are recognised and well respected by customs and import authorities throughout Europe. They are, in effect, the products’ ‘passports’ for sale into the EU.

Post-Brexit testing

Following the United Kingdom’s decision to withdraw from the European Union, SATRA recognised that there was a longer-term possibility that the EU would stop accepting type-examination certificates issued by UK Notified Bodies. This would be very problematic for SATRA’s members who rely on these certificates to trade within the EU. SATRA decided to set up a new company to become a Notified Body inside the EU but outside of the United Kingdom. The new company was named ‘SATRA Technology Europe and is located in Bracetown, near Dublin. SATRA’s manager in Dublin is Geoff Graham, who is well known to many of SATRA’s PPE customers. He has worked for SATRA for 19 years, including one year based in SATRA’s facility in Dongguan, China.

SATRA now has two Notified Bodies: the new one in Ireland and the existing one in the UK. This eliminates any uncertainty created by the UK’s decision to withdraw from the European Union. All certificates issued by the UK Notified Body will be valid until at least 30th December 2020 as detailed in the UK withdrawal agreement from the EU. Holders of existing certificates can now choose to keep their certificates with the UK Notified Body or transfer them to the Irish Notified Body before the end of 2020. New applications can be processed through SATRA Technology Europe.

To accommodate anticipated further growth, SATRA Technology Europe recently moved into larger offices at the same Bracetown Business Park address. This further investment means that SATRA is now very well placed to accept more certification assessment work and help companies comply with the new PPE Regulation (EU) 2016/425.

Service as normal 

Existing customers will be able to continue working with their usual preferred contacts within SATRA, who will be pleased to advise them on any matter related to certification and testing. SATRA Technology Europe will operate under the same systems and to the same high standards. Type-examination certificates will carry the same globally recognised SATRA logo.

It is important to note that the UK’s decision to withdraw from the EU will not affect the validity of existing or future test reports issued from SATRA in the UK. These test reports will be accepted for certification purposes by SATRA Technology Europe and other PPE Notified Bodies. This is because testing that supports certification does not need to be carried out in the EU. The testing laboratories at SATRA are accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to the internationally recognised standard ISO/IEC 17025:2017 – ‘General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories’. UKAS, along with other European Accreditation Bodies, is a signatory of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) Mutual Recognition Agreement.

The withdrawal of the UK from the European Union has coincidentally happened during the transition period from the old PPE Directive 89/686/EC to the new PPE Regulation (EU) 2016/425 (see the June 2018 issue of SATRA Bulletin). A number of SATRA’s members are taking advantage of this situation by transferring their existing type-examination certificates to SATRA Technology Europe while at the same time upgrading the certificate from the old directive to the new regulation.