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Telefication is designated as Notified Body under the Marine Equipment Directive 96/98/EC.

The designation covers all conformity assessment procedures for marine navigation and communication equipment.

The creation of an open market in Europe was an important step towards free trade in goods and products within the European Union. However, since the member states of the European Union have different laws, statutory procedures and requirements for the marketing of products, these barriers to trade need to be eliminated. To this end, the European Council adopted Directive 96/98/EC on 20 December 1996 on Marine Equipment. The Marine Equipment Directive is amended by Council Directive 98/85/EC which was adopted on 11 November 1998.

The Global Approach describes seven procedures for the assessment of products. Each procedure comprises both the design phase and production phase of a product. The seven procedures differ in nature and are applied according to the potential risk associated with a product. For instance, pacemakers have to satisfy much more stringent assessment requirements than toy trains.

Depending on the risk associated with a particular product, Directives specify in which cases the manufacturer himself may determine whether the products conform to the essential requirements in the Directive(s) and in which cases this has to be assessed by a third party, a Notified Body, by means of certification.

The following procedures apply to marine communication and navigation equipment (hereafter referred to as marine equipment):
• EC type-examination and Production quality assurance, or;
• EC type-examination and Product quality assurance, or;
• EC type-examination and Product verification, or;
• EC unit verification.

The basic features of these procedures are as follows:
Type-examination:

A Notified Body assesses the design of a representative specimen of the production envisaged, possibly by means of tests.

Production quality assurance
A Notified Body assesses whether the manufacturer's production process is of a sufficiently high standard to guarantee that the products satisfy the (statutory) requirements (EN-ISO9002 like quality systems).

Product quality assurance
A Notified Body assesses the manufacturer's quality system to ensure that appropriate tests are performed on each product to guarantee that the products satisfy the (statutory) requirements (EN-ISO9003 like quality systems).

Product verification
A Notified Body assesses the verification method of the manufacturer either by means of examination and testing of each product or by means of statistical verification.

Unit verification
Each product is subjected to a type-examination by the Notified Body.
2 guidance documents are defined with respect to MED:

Document RD_040, Conformity Assessment procedures for marine communication and navigation equipment, is intended as a guide for manufacturers and importers who want to place marine communication or navigation equipment on the market of the European Union.

It describes the conformity assessment procedures that have to be followed before marine equipment may be placed on the market and how to act when modifications to such equipment are made. It also describes specific conditions, such as markings, Declarations of conformity to type, etc., which manufacturers and importers will have to deal with.

Document RD_041, Quality systems and product verification procedure is a Conformity assessment procedure regarding quality systems and those related to product verification.