Control bodies

To prevent and control any possible risks, public authorities set industrial safety policies and regulate their requirements and the controls to perform during their design, implementation or production, and also during their useful life, to ensure that the safety and environmental conditions are maintained. Thus, both at European, national and regional levels, different regulations require that control bodies (or “notified bodies”, as they are known in European regulations) carry out these controls.

Additionally, legal metrology plays a fundamental role in guaranteeing the transparency of commercial transactions and any measures that might impact consumer safety (food refrigeration temperature control, for example). To offer the maximum security guarantees, it has been established that control bodies must be ENAC accredited to carry out their activity, in order to confirm they have the necessary technical competence and means to undertake mentioned controls.

Control bodies currently operate in three regulatory environments: European and national regulation and legal metrology.

European regulation

Under European regulations, the bodies that control the placing on the market of products posing risks to persons or the environment in Europe are known as Notified Bodies and act in accordance with the “New Approach” Directives and Regulations. They are in charge of controlling the proper use of CE marking. Lifts, petrol stations, cranes, personal protective equipment, products for construction, pyrotechnics, building products and boilers are just some of the products that must be controlled to guarantee safety.

National regulation

Establish the need to conduct regular inspections to ensure the proper operation, maintenance and condition of industrial facilities posing a safety risk. Examples include electrical installations, lifts, pressure vessels, chemical storage, etc.

Legal Metrology

Legal metrology, for which controls are put in place on measuring equipment that can affect the transparency of trading transactions, the health or safety of consumers and users, and the environment, to ensure reliable measurements. Scales, fuel pumps and meters (gas, water, electricity) are just some examples of equipment subject to these controls.