The impact of the IECEx scheme on the global availability of explosion protected apparatus

The IECEx scheme is structuring a system to achieve global acceptance for explosion protected equipment for hazardous locations. Scheme members declare that they will abolish national differences for product requirements in their countries during the coming years. The 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 IEC standards. The goal is to develop and maintain uniform product evaluation to protect users against products which are not in line with the required level of safety. The critical aspects are identified by a comparison of advantages and disadvantages of such a scheme. The experience with the European system of Notified Bodies and harmonized CENELEC standards is a good basis for consideration during the phase of establishing the IECEx Scheme. The result of fast introduction of IEC standards can be visualized by specifying possible conflicts in the national regulations. This paper addresses this issue from the perspective of four international certification organizations-PTB (providing an overview of the scheme), UL (providing a US perspective), CSA (providing a Canadian perspective) and LCIE (providing a European perspective).