Why the Continuous Review of Standards Compliance Is So Important

Standards in explosion protection are subject to constant change. New findings, technological developments, and international coordination regularly lead to updates to the IEC 60079 series of standards – and thus to new requirements for manufacturers of Ex equipment. What often sounds like purely formal paperwork is, in reality, central to the safety of products and installations.

R. STAHL has established an approach that goes well beyond common industry practice. In an interview, Werner Förstner, Certification Manager for Electrical Products at R. STAHL, explains why the continuous evaluation of changes in standards is indispensable, how the company’s proprietary standards database works, and what concrete benefits customers gain from it.

Werner Förstner: The most important reason lies in the ATEX Directive. It explicitly requires that a product must always be assessed according to the state of the art. This means that as soon as a new edition of a standard is published, manufacturers must check whether the changes have an impact on the safety of their products. The state of the art is generally reflected in IEC and EN standards.

Werner Förstner: After the foreword of every new IEC standard, you will find an overview that classifies all changes into three categories:

1. Minor or editorial changes
   These include clarifications, typographical errors, or minor technical adjustments.
   → These do not need to be considered for existing product certificates.
2. Extensions
   These are additional options, such as alternative test methods.
   → These also do not need to be considered for existing product certificates however may become relevant for future certificate extensions.
3. Major technical changes
   These involve the addition of new technical requirements or increases in existing requirements.
   → These must be evaluated because they represent the new state of the art.

The classification is carried out by the IEC maintenance team responsible for the respective standard – that is, by the experts who develop the standard. This ensures that manufacturers and certification bodies worldwide assess changes according to the same criteria.

Werner Förstner: They must review every new edition and, above all, assess the major technical changes. Many manufacturers probably overlook the fact that this is mandatory – but from both a normative and an ATEX perspective, it is clearly required.

Especially in the Ex area, a major technical change in standards often means a new technical requirement. If this is relevant to a product, the certificate must be updated. If it is not relevant, documented evidence that there is no relevance is sufficient.

Werner Förstner: We are talking about more than 600 different Ex products installed in our switchgear assemblies – around 50% of them are third-party products.

When a new standard is published, it must be clarified for each individual Ex product:
• Are there relevant major technical changes?
• Does the Ex product remain compliant with the new standard?

You can imagine that this represents an enormous effort.
When we asked our suppliers for corresponding evidence a few years ago, the response rate was only about 25%. For us, that was practically unusable.

Werner Förstner: We developed our own database in which all Ex products and all relevant standards are systematically maintained. This allows us to quickly assess for each product whether changes in standards are relevant.

If we cannot assess a change ourselves – for example, in the case of third-party products – we contact the manufacturer directly with specific questions relating exactly to the section in the new standard that need to be evaluated.

Werner Förstner: Absolutely. Customers can be sure that our products and our switchgear assemblies are always in line with the latest standards. And that is indeed something not every competitor implements with this level of consistency.

Werner Förstner: The certificate itself does not necessarily have to be updated immediately – this is also stipulated in the ATEX Directive. What is decisive is the evaluation, not the visible update of the certificate. Many changes to standards are not relevant to the product anyway.

There are additional requirements worldwide:
• India requires that the latest IEC standard editions be reflected in IECEx certificates for a PESO certificate.
• Other countries also accept older standard editions if we can provide a gap analysis – meaning our documented proof that all changes have been reviewed.

Without our database, we would hardly be able to meet the worldwide normative requirements.

Mr. Förstner: The customer receives products for which:
• all relevant changes in standards have been reviewed,
• third-party products have also been evaluated, and
• country-specific certifications worldwide are possible more quickly and more reliably.

In short:
Customers can rely on R. STAHL products always complying with the state of the art – and in a verifiable way.

That standards compliance is not a one-time event, but an ongoing process. At R. STAHL, we take this responsibility very seriously. Through our systematic evaluation of all changes in standards – including those affecting third-party products – we ensure that our customer-specific solutions always comply with the current state of the art. This not only creates safety, but also trust. And that is exactly what we want to offer our customers.