Rules & Regulations-Type examination

Rules and regulations for voluntary conformity certification for the products within scope of ATEX directive

I-O-21 , Rev: 00

1. SUBJECT MATTER

This general regulation for conformity assessment pursuant to the clarification sheet No. ExNB 00/06/020/CS (developed by ExNBG), ISO/IEC 17065 and normative references such as EN 60079 standard series for which Nobel Certification Italia (hereafter named “NOBEL CERT”) operates as a product certification body (PCB) for Type examination as a voluntary certification of the below equipment and protective systems within the scope of ATEX directive:

all equipment-group II, equipment category 3;
among equipment-groups I and II, equipment-categories M2 and 2, only the equipment which are not classified as internal combustion engines and electrical equipment (e.g. non-electrical mechanical equipment); and
equipment assemblies or installations for use in explosive atmospheres comprise individual equipment having their own explosion protection and already have been certified for ATEX according to EN 60079 or EN ISO 80079 series. the references relevant to such type of assemblies or installations could be EN 60079-14 or IEC TS 60079-46.

This regulation is adopted and approved by NOBEL CERT, and is applicable to NOBEL CERT and the applicant of the above-mentioned conformity assessment service (the "client"), except for the cases that the mentioned parties expressly agree on the exceptions to this regulation.

Each exception will be valid only if previously agreed in writing between NOBEL CERT and the client (the Parties). In the case that one or more of the articles were to prove null or ineffectual for any reason, the nullity or ineffectualness will not be extended to other requirements of this regulation.

Within this regulation, the applicable contractual conditions stipulated between NOBEL CERT and the client are also defined, taking as essential elements of this regulations:

by the CLIENT side, the acceptance of the pertinent NOBEL CERT quotation, the presentation of the application and the acceptance of this regulation;
by NOBEL CERT side, the order confirmation, once the documentation has been received from the CLIENT.

The CLIENT entrusts NOBEL CERT with the relevant service to issue the pertinent documents attesting conformity of product as described above.

Upon conclusion of product conformity assessment tasks, in case of positive outcome of verification activity and making positive decision for certification, NOBEL CERT issues the CLIENT with theType examination certificate and in the case of a negative result, NOBEL CERT issues the CLIENT with the specific communication describing the non-conformities found, to be resolved by the in compliance with the specified deadlines in the relevant sections of this regulations.

In case of failure on solving the non-conformities in the specified deadlines, NOBEL CERT issues to the CLIENT a communication with the negative result, requires the CLIENT to pay for the activity carried out up to that point.

In the case of an explicit request by the CLIENT, NOBEL CERT also sends the relevant evaluation reports to the client.

2. GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

2.1. Attaining the certification

Issuance Type examination certificate, and its maintenance, where applicable, depend on:

the availability of the CLIENT to submit its produced product sample/s and itself to the ordinary, supplementary and documental assessments within the timeframe envisaged and indicated by NOBEL CERT;
the positive result of the aforementioned conformity assessment activities, performed by NOBEL CERT;
the payment of the amounts due, on any basis, to NOBEL CERT (including the activities of issuing and the variation/re-issue of the certificates).

2.2. Samples

If required, the samples must reach the laboratory indicated by NOBEL CERT accompanied by the documents needed by NOBEL CERT testing lab procedures. All the transport expenses are borne by the CLIENT. It is the responsibility of the CLIENT to collect the samples at the end of the tests.

Any resulted material from testing, will be immediately disposed of by NOBEL CERT.

All explosion proof tests are considered as destructive and therefore after the tests are completed, NOBEL CERT is not responsible for returning the samples to the customer in the same form and condition as they were delivered to NOBEL CERT.

The client shall prepare the testing sample/s according to the quantity and the technical specifications which NOBEL CERT requires.

2.3. Verification personnel and resource for testing

NOBEL CERT assigns the verification activities including technical documentation review and product evaluation to personnel including NOBEL CERT employees or to those who have a collaboration relationship with NOBEL CERT, or employee of companies with which NOBEL CERT has signed a collaboration contract in possession of the specific expertise and preventively qualified according to specific procedures, in accordance with the applicable accreditation provisions.

The testing activities are outsourced to the accredited associated laboratories.

Upon notice to the CLIENT, NOBEL CERT reserves itself the possibility to subcontract part of the certification Service requested to third parties, for example performing tests at external laboratories. The CLIENT will be informed of the detail of the outsourced activities as well as of the references of the subcontractor, has the right to refuse this outsourcing for justified reasons, within five (5) working days from the communication date.

NOBEL CERT is anyway fully responsible for every outsourced activity and retains the responsibility for issuing, maintaining, extending, limiting, suspending or withdrawing the ATEX Certification.

NOBEL CERT guarantees that the subject to which the subcontract is entrusted is competent and conforms to the applicable regulatory provisions and is not involved in the design and manufacture of the product, so as not to compromise impartiality as set out in par. 2.5 above.

2.4. Confidentiality

All the documents relating to the assessment activity (documentation, recordings, communications, assessment reports, etc.) are considered confidential, without prejudice to what is provided for by legislative provisions.

Note: any information about the client obtained from sources other than the client (e.g. from the complainant or from regulators) is treated by NOBEL CERT as confidential.

Access to and consultation of the documents relating to the activities in hand is reserved to NOBEL CERT personnel involved in the conformity assessment process.

Documents are property of the CLIENT, when acquired by NOBEL CERT in relation to the subject matter of this regulation, will be maintained by NOBEL CERT for at least 10 years from issuance date of certificate, unless stricter specific rules apply.

The client accepts the data processing procedures required by law and allows the inclusion of its company name in the list of NOBEL CERT references.

2.5. Impartiality

NOBEL CERT, in its capacity as PCB, is required to guarantee impartiality during all the conformity assessment activities; in this respect, NOBEL CERT avails of a process to assess and manage the risks of impartiality.

All prohibited tasks regarding impartiality are described in M-M-03 (Limitations , Observations & most important forbidden activities)

2.6. NOBEL CERT Ethics Code and Legislative Decree 231 of 8 June 2001

NOBEL CERT has adopted an Ethics Code pursuant to Legislative Decree 231 of 8 June 2001 on the liability of legal persons, of companies and of associations, including those are individuals. Consequently, in conducting business with NOBEL CERT, the CLIENT is required to view the mentioned decree and behave in a manner that is based on the highest ethical standards.

By signing the Certification Contract, the CLIENT declares to have viewed, to be familiar with the content of the NOBEL CERT Ethics Code and to have accepted its content.

The CLIENT also declares to be familiar with the provisions set out in Legislative Decree 231/01, to undertake to respect the NOBEL CERT Ethics Code and to fulfil its contractual obligations in accordance with an appropriate manner to avoid the occurrence of relevant behavior according to Legislative Decree 231/01.

In particular, failure of the CLIENT to observe any one of the provisions of the Ethics Code will imply a serious breach of the obligations of this regulation and legitimate NOBEL CERT to terminate this with immediate effect, pursuant to article 1456 of the Civil Code.

To this end, NOBEL CERT must communicate to the CLIENT, by registered letter with notification of receipt, or other modality valid for all purposes and effects of law, the motivated intention to avail of the termination clause.

Furthermore, The CLIENT behavior which results in the initiation of judicial proceedings to ascertain its relevance according to Leg. Dec. 231/01, of which NOBEL CERT has become familiar with in any way, will legitimate the latter to withdraw from the Contract of certification for just cause.

2.7. Position of NOBEL CERT as PCB

for the purpose of issuing Type examination certificate, NOBEL CERT does not act nor undertake the responsibilities as a notified body.

NOBE CERT acts as only a third party certification body and will issue unaccredited conformity certificate.

2.8. Force majeure

In all emergency cases where the parties are deprived of their authority, in such a way as to cause the non-implementation of the operations under this contract (such as earthquakes, floods, unforeseen events and any other unforeseen factors that make it impossible to access the site the work will be done), the performance of the exclusive contract subject will be postponed to another date with the agreement of the parties.

3. CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT PROCESS

3.1. Presentation of the Request

The CLIENT has the right to request a quotation in advance, in which NOBEL CERT gives a detailed description of the activities carried out in its capacity as PCB and of the relevant Price applied.

The quotation will include the following information:

description of the certification Service;
references to this Rules & Regulation of certification;
the manner in which the Service is provided;
amount due, according to NOBEL CERT Price analysis
invoicing and payment terms

In case of acceptance of the quotation, the CLIENT is required to send NOBEL CERT:

approval on quotation;
acceptance this rules and regulation, by the legal representative, or its attorney, or adequately delegated person;
any purchase order, if required by The CLIENT

The request to access to the certification Service is presented by the Manufacturer (the CLIENT) and occurs by presentation of a specific Request to NOBEL CERT, containing the recorded information in online application form which is available on NOBEL CERT website containing the following minimum information:

general information about the CLIENT (company name, name, address, legal status, etc.);
description of the product to certify and the relevant production site;
documentation to assess the conformity of the product to the applicable requirements;
There is a confirmation for agreement with this rule and regulation in application form.

The Manufacturer is allowed to appoint a person or company (excluding consultancies) to act as its agent to assist him in all phases of the certification process, but the application and quotation and the other relevant annexes must be signed solely by the manufacturer. The client must represent an evidence relevant to delegation of power to NOBEL CERT.

The Request must be presented in a distinct manner for each type of product, or rather for each representative sample of a specific production. The type may also include product variants. The product variants must be indicated in an attachment to the application.

Acceptance by NOBEL CERT of the presented application by the CLIENT depends on the positive application review result by the competent NOBEL CERT personnel; then the quotation for certification is issued and executed by NOBEL CERT.

This is followed by the planning phase of the activity by NOBEL CERT, with communication to the CLIENT the ways of the service provision.

NOBEL CERT does not guarantee in any way the positive result of the verification activity and, consequently, the issuance of the Type examination certificate.

in cases which the client has urgent need and obligated for announcement the status of the certification progress to relevant interested parties, it may request NOBEL CERT to issue a statement for certification progress.

Note: statement of certification progress shall not announce in any way that the certification has been done and only shall include the progress of product testing and evaluation of technical documentation.

NOBEL CERT reserves the right to recognize documents issued by other certification bodies, namely certificates, declarations of conformity, test reports, reports attesting the conformity of the products.

If the product for which the Type examination certification is requested, has already been issued with the other NOBEL CERT voluntary certificates, NOBEL CERT reserves the right to define criteria of possible reduction of the tests according to the suitability of the tests and verification activities already carried out in a voluntary scope by NOBEL CERT.

3.2. Certification process

3.2.1 Requested documentation

The technical documentation shall make it possible to assess the product’s conformity with the applicable requirements of normative references and shall include an adequate analysis and assessment of the risk(s). The technical documentation shall specify the applicable requirements and cover, as far as relevant for the assessment, the design, manufacture and operation of the product.

according to annex VIII of ATEX directive, the technical documentation shall contain at least the following elements:

a general description of the product;
conceptual design and manufacturing drawings and schemes of components, sub-assemblies, circuits, etc.;
descriptions and explanations necessary for the understanding of those drawings and schemes and the operation of the product;
a list of the harmonised standards applied in full or in part the references of which have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union and, where those harmonised standards have not been applied, descriptions of the solutions adopted to meet the essential health and safety requirements of this Directive, including a list of other relevant technical specifications applied. In the event of partly applied harmonised standards, the technical documentation shall specify the parts which have been applied;
results of design calculations made, analysis and examinations carried out, etc.; and
test reports.

This documentation must be provided in Italian or English language; any other language is accepted only if this has been envisaged in the quotation phase.

for more details, please see I-O-20 (Guideline for preparation product technical file for ATEX certification) and also Guide for preparing user manual for Explosion proof products.

3.2.2. Verification of Technical File

If the Technical File examination ends with positive result, certification process continues to the following stages. If, instead, Technical File examination shows non-conformities with reference to requirements of ATEX directive and applied standard/s, or part of the documentation received results to be lacking or incomplete, NOBEL CERT informs in writing the Manufacturer and waits for resolution of non-conformities / integration of the same documentation.

Non-conformities related to documentation are classified in the following way:

Major Non-conformity: evidence of non-conformity with reference to applicable normative reference and standard and/or lack of one of documents requested in technical file. Manufacturer must integrate the documentation before the beginning the product evaluation process;

Minor Non-Conformity: requested documentation is available but is clearly incomplete or inconsistent to allow a complete product evaluation. Minor non-conformities are allowed to be solved during the process of evaluation and therefore the evaluation and verification activities are not required to be postponed.

Manufacturer has a three (3) months deadline to send to NOBEL CERT the missing documents, referred to major non-conformities. Otherwise, NOBEL CERT keeps the right to stop the evaluation process and ask the payment of all the activity carried out.

3.2.3. Verification of the product:

If the outcome of the assessment of the Technical Documentation is positive, NOBEL CERT carries out or arranges for the necessary examinations, checks and tests to be carried out following tasks:

3.2.3.1. examining the technical documentation, verifying that the specimen(s) have been manufactured in conformity with the technical documentation, and identifying the elements which have been designed in accordance with the applicable provisions of the relevant standards, as well as the elements which have been designed in accordance with other relevant technical specifications;

3.2.3.2. carry out appropriate examinations and tests, or have them carried out, to check whether, where the manufacturer has chosen to apply the solutions in the relevant standards, these have been applied correctly;

3.2.3.3. carry out appropriate examinations and tests, or have them carried out, to check whether, where the solutions in the relevant standards have not been applied, the solutions adopted by the manufacturer applying other relevant technical specifications.

3.2.4. Tests and controls

NOBEL CERT, if necessary, draws up a specific test protocol and communicates to the CLIENT the number of samples of the representative type of production envisaged which must be provided free of charge for the conformity test. NOBEL CERT can request other samples of the same type if necessary to carry out the test programme.

Prior to sending product sample/s by the client , sufficient number of photos , if needed video , datasheet and other technical information as needed must be sent by the CLIENT to NOBEL CERT till a control is done about conformity of the selected sample/s with the required type specification as well as checking conformity of the required preparation work (e.g. drilling on sample) on the sample/s which has been already requested by NOBEL CERT.

NOBEL CERT agrees with the Customer on the location where the examinations and tests shall be performed.

At the end of the examinations and tests, NOBEL CERT draws up an assessment report listing the steps taken in accordance with 3.2.3.1 , 3.2.3.2 , 3.2.3.3 and the task of “agreeing with the manufacturer on a location where the examinations and tests will be carried out.” and the results thereof.

Without prejudice to its obligations towards the authorities, NOBEL CERT shall make the entire contents of the report, or part of it, public only with the agreement of the Customer.

3.2.5. Result of assessment

If the assessment has a positive result, the process will continue with the phase of Review and Final Decision (see par. 3.2.7 under) and, in case of positive decision, with the issue of a Type Examination certificate according to following provisions:

That certificate shall contain the name and address of the manufacturer, the conclusions of the examination, the conditions (if any) for its validity and the necessary data for identification of the approved type. The type examination certificate may have one or more annexes attached Whatever the outcome of the examination, NOBEL CERT keeps a copy of the documentation relating to the project, of the other documents attached to the application and of the results of the tests and checks carried out.

NOBEL CERT reserves the right to ask the manufacturer to keep the tested samples, or parts thereof, duly marked or sealed, at its premises.

In case of negative result, the two following situations may present:

NOBEL CERT appointed personnel requests or carries out supplementary tests/verification activities. The costs to carry out the supplementary activities are understood as payable by the CLIENT and communicated through an appropriate quotation, according to the NOBEL CERT Price list in force or performed price analysis calculation; the process continues with the performance of supplementary tests/verification activities;
situations have been identified for which the product cannot in any way be considered as conforming to the requirements of the applicable standard or it has not been not manufactured according to the Technical File and consequently it is not considered possible to proceed with the issue of the type Examination certificate. NOBEL CERT communicates the negative conclusion of the certification process to the CLIENT and requests payment for the activity carried out to this point.

3.2.6. Review and final decision on the issue of the certificate

The decision on the issuance of the type examination certificate is taken by NOBEL CERT decision making group,including NOBEL CERT managing director with at least one ATEX decision maker who is assigned among all apointed product evaluators and different from the evaluator/s who has been involved in evluation process of the relevant product.

All the documentation relating to the performed conformity assessment activities, are analyzed by decision maker who decides whether or not to issue the the type examination certificate.

If the certification is denied, NOBEL CERT communicates this decision in writing to the CLIENT, indicating the reasons.

NOBEL CERT keeps a copy of the documentation relating to the project, of the other documents attached to the application and of the results of the tests and checks carried out.

If needed, during the period of validity of the certificate, NOBEL CERT keeps a constant update on technological progress (defined as "state of the art") in order to verify whether the certified type may cease to comply with the applicable requirements of therelevant harmonized standard or specifications. If technological progress has a substantial impact on the conformity of the certified type, NOBEL CERT shall inform the client.

3.2.7. Validity of type examination certificate and renewal

Upon occurring one of below situations, the type examination certificates, will no longer be valid:

withdrawal of certified harmonized standard/s or normative reference or specification;
the modifications on certified product, announced by the client and affects product conformity with the certification requirements as detected by NOBEL CERT.

The costs for the renewal activities are intended to be borne by the client and communicated by a quotation.

The renewal activity shall include the detailed examination of the needed parts of technical documentation and if required, the product, considering:

the current state of the art (technological progress) of the specific product;
the standards which may be revised from initial certification period;
the verification of the representative sample;
if necessary, the repetition of the tests and checks on the product.

4. OBLIGATIONS OF THE CLIENT

4.1. General Obligations of the CLIENT

The CLIENT is committed for the following issues:

to prepare and make available to NOBEL CERT the required documentation for the purposes of the relevant conformity assessment procedure;
to inform NOBEL CERT the name and contact information of consultancy (person or company), if the client has enjoyed consultancy service to develop its product or production process;
to ensure that the samples of certified product which are placed on the market, bear the type identification number, batch, series,manufacturer's name, trade name or registered trade mark and the contact information to which the manufacturer can be contacted;
to ensure the appropriate use of NOBEL CERT trademark;
to ensure that the certified product which is placed on the market, is accompanied by or referred to the appropriate instructions on safety, as provided by the applicable standard and to ensure that these instructions are clear, understandable, intelligible, and written in an appropriate language to be easily understood by the final user;

to keep the conformity of the product which are subject to certificate, with the requirements of the applicable regulations and / or stated in the relevant certificate; and to inform NOBEL CERT of any program of modification on certified product

Following applying any change by client that may affect the certificatrion, the below tasks must be done by NOBEL CERT and the client accepts to cooperate with NOBEL CERT for them.

1- giving notice of the change and deadline for implementation of necessary actions;

2- evaluating of implemented modifications; and

3- if necessary, performance of re-evaluation , review, decision making and reissuance of the certificate as per need.

4- payment of the relevant fees for above services to NOBEL CERT.

keep the technical documentation and any approvals /certifications applicable for a period of at least 10 years from the date that the certificated product was placed on the market;

where deemed necessary with regard to the risks associated to the certified product, in order to protect the health and safety of consumers, carry out a random test on a sample of certified product made available on the market;

to inform received complaints regarding to the certified product to NOBEL CERT and to examine complaints related to the certified product and to examine the samples of not compliant certified product; and to examine the recalls and / or withdrawals from the market, as related to the certified product;

keep a record of such complaints, of such non-conformities and of such recalls / withdrawals from the market, as well as of the relative corrective actions; where required by NOBEL CERT, provide evidence of their management;

to not make any statement or advertisement about the certificate in a way that may be considered as misleading or unauthorized, or inconsistent with the scope of certification, and to not use the certificate so as to bring discredit to NOBEL CERT;

if needed, to pay travel expenses of product evaluator personnel, which is announced by NOBEL CERT.

4.2. providing safety at evaluation locations

The CLIENT, according to the legislation in force on safety and accident prevention at work, undertakes to provide NOBEL CERT personnel and any accompanying persons with a full and detailed notice on the specific existing risks in the environment in which they will work.

If the product evaluators appointed by NOBEL CERT, need to be present at the client's premises, The CLIENT also undertakes to promote, through its contact person, cooperation and coordination to implement the measures and actions of protection and prevention from health and safety risks, which affect the activities of the product evaluators and of any accompanying persons.

The client provides NOBEL CERT evaluators and any accompanying persons with the appropriate personal protection equipment and will put in place any protection to allow the activities to be carried out in total safety.

5. FINANCIAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

5.1. Amounts due to issue and maintain the certification

The amounts due for the certification and if needed maintenance activities, where specified, together with the relevant payment conditions, are indicated in the quotation as accepted by the CLIENT.

The client is required to correctly communicate all the information requested during the application and prior to price analysis phase, in order to issue an appropriate quotation, as well as updating NOBEL CERT for any probable modification between application and issuing quotation and also after communicating quotation.

For any new service which has been required after client approval on quotation, which has not been specifically set out in the quotation due to the lack of information by client in the application phase or product modification by the client after approving the quotation or any other reason raised from the client, the aditional amounts with the relevant services, on the basis of the revised price analysis of the project, will be indicated in the revised quotation.

5.2. Payment of fees due

Upon conclusion of the Service, NOBEL CERT issues and present to the CLIENT the type examination certificate, product test and evaluation reports, only on condition that all the fees due to NOBEL CERT have been already paid.

In case of failure to pay the fees,NOBEL CERT has the right to interrupt the services at any moment, until the CLIENT has paid and or remedies to its non-fulfillment.

6. SUSPENSION, REVOCATION OR RENUNCIATION OF THE CERTIFICATION

6.1. Renunciation of certification

If the CLIENT wishes to renounce to certification issued by NOBEL CERT, it must make a written request to NOBEL CERT and subsequently the client must do the followings:

Stopping use of NOBEL CERT trademark and making reference to NOBEL CERT as PCB;
informing to NOBEL CERT within a term no longer than fifteen (15) days from the renunciation date, the existence stock in the production sites and warehouses of the products which show reference to NOBEL CERT as PCB;
selling or placing on the market the above-mentioned products, only until the expiry date which will be indicated by NOBEL CERT.

It is understood that, following the renunciation, the CLIENT must in any case guarantee to NOBEL CERT, within 6 months of the renunciation, the possibility of carrying out an audit at the production sites and warehouses, if needed by NOBEL CERT, in order to gather the necessary evidence in relation to stocks and products placed on the market. Any costs and expenses of such possible audit shall be borne by the CLIENT.

6.2. Suspension of validity of certificate

6.2.1 Motivations to certificate suspension

The type Certificates may be suspended by NOBEL CERT following non-compliance by the client in the following cases:

failure of the client's business;
non-payment of the amounts due to NOBEL CERT;
non-fulfilment of the clientr's obligations under article 4 above;
failure to take necessary corrective actions;
alerts from the market relevant to major non-conformities affecting seriously the health and safety of the consumers.

6.2.2 Communication of suspension

The suspension of the certificate and any restoration of it, are communicated to the CLIENT including demonstrating the reason for the suspension and deadline by which the CLIENT must implement the requested corrective actions.

The CLIENT has two weeks in which to communicate to NOBEL CERT for the followings and any other useful information on the closure of the reasons of suspension.

having taken charge of the provision;
adaptation to requirements;
implementation times.

the deadline of closure of the reasons of suspension must not take longer than six months.

6.2.3 Consequences of suspension

Following the suspension, the CLIENT must interrupt the use of the certificate and abstain from publicizing them until the end of the suspension period.

The suspension implies the impossibility of use the certificate and trade mark and the consequent impossibility to put the related products on the market, starting from the suspension date.

In the cases of most serious non-conformities, NOBEL CERT reserves the right to request the CLIENT to recall products from the market, including those already stored in warehouses.

The invoices issued by NOBEL CERT to carry out any verification activities or activities caused by suspension and restoration cost are paid by the CLIENT.

6.2.4 Restoring certificate

The suspension can be cancelled only when the CLIENT resolvs satisfactorily the reasons of suspension such as closure of the found non-conformities.

Prior to procees for restoration the certificate, NOBEL CERT can carry out further verification activities to ascertain the actual resolution of the reasons of suspension.

Payment all the expenses for the above mentioned additional verifications are responsibility of the CLIENT.

6.2.5 Duration of suspension period

The suspension cannot exceed six (6) months, if the suspension is not cancelled within this period of time, the certificate will be withdrawn (revoked).

6.3 Revocation (withdrawal) of certificate

6.3.1 Motivations for revocation (withdrawal)

The type Examination certificate can be revoked by NOBEL CERT in case of:

failure to remove the causes of suspension within the above-mentioned period;
Serious breach of the client's obligations;
fraudulent or unlawful use of the certificate;
adoption of significant changes made to the product by the client, without the prior information to NOBEL CERT and verifying them by NOBEL CERT;
continued non-payment of the amounts due to NOBEL CERT, after the period of certificate suspension due to the same reason;
bankruptcy or cessation of client's business.

6.3.2 Consequences for revocation (withdrawal)

In case of revocation of type examination certificate, the client is obliged for the the followings:

stopping the affixing the certification mark on products relevant to the withdrawn (revoked) certificate, cease marketing it and taking relevant measures determined by use of NOBEL CERT trademark;
refraining from advertising and using the withdrawn certificate, removing any NOBEL CERT references from the products and documentation in use;
payment the balance of all amounts due to NOBEL CERT;
The conditions that will cause the certificate is terminated, suspended, withdrawan or scope reduced and the actions that NOBEL CERT will take after the occurrence of the mentioned situations, are described in the procedure of P-O-13 which could be made available in case of request by client.

7. Modifications to the reference standards, regulations for certification and other special requirements

If important variations affecting the validity of the type examination certificate are introduced in the below references, NOBEL CERT will communicate the revised standard to the CLIENT.

relevant product harmonized standard(s);
requirements of this regulation;
requirements of ISO /IEC 17065; and
other specific references such as ACCREDIA requirements.

The client will have the right to adapt its products, within the indicated terms, or renounce the certificate.

In case the CLIENT intends to adapt to the revised standard relevant to the certified product, NOBEL CERT will be entitled to repeat the required tests and verification activities and if required, to request new or modified technical documentation.

The expenses of the relevant testing and verification activities will be charged to the CLIENT.

8. LIMITS TO CERTIFICATION AND RESPONSIBILITY

8.1. Liability of The CLIENT

The CLIENT undertakes to comply with and maintaining compliance with mandatory requirements, such as laws, regulations, etc., of an international, national or local level, with particular regard to the products inside the scope of certification.

The issuance and maintenance of the certificate do not constitute attestation or guarantee by NOBEL CERT regarding conformity to the compulsory requirements that weigh on the CLIENT and, in general, of the legislative conformity of the latter.

Therefore, the CLIENT is and remains the only responsible party towards himself and towards third parties of the correct activity and conformity of the same and of its products, to the applicable standards as well as to the expectations of the CLIENTs and third parties in general.

The CLIENT also undertakes to hold harmless NOBEL CERT and its employees, assistants and collaborators against any complaint, action and/or claim of third parties connected with activities performed by NOBEL CERT according to this regulation.

8.2. Breach by NOBEL CERT

NOBEL CERT can be held responsibility against the CLIENT only for damages following willful misconduct or gross negligence.

8.3. Forfeiture clause

Any complaint or claim for damages against NOBEL CERT must be brought by the CLIENT, on pain of forfeiture, within and no later than one (1) year from the event which has given way to the claim or to the complaint.

9. Obligations of NOBEL CERT

(a) NOBEL CERT makes publicly available information for the type examination certificates and their current validity status through the page for certificate validity check in its website. as per need, the information of the registered certificates is updated.

(b) NOBEL CERT gives due notices of any changes relevant to type examination certification including those are relevant to the product standard(s), management system for product certification (e.g.ISO/IEC 17065) and local rules and regulations relevant to the product applied for certification.

Prior to decide on the precise form and the effective date of the changes, NOBEL CERT takes into account, the views expressed by interested parties relevant to certification.

Following a decision on, and publication of the changed requirements, NOBEL CERT verifies that each certified client carries out necessary adjustments.

Following changing any requirement described above, the below tasks are done by NOBEL CERT and the client accepts to cooperate with NOBEL CERT for them.

giving notice of the change and deadline for implementation of necessary actions;
evaluating of the implemented modifications; and
if necessary, performance of re-evaluation, review, decision making and reissuance of the certificate as per need.

c) NOBEL CERT ensures that the type examination certification for all clients, is provided independently, impartially and in a non-discriminatory manner according to the relevant defined procedures and policies;

d) Appeals: the client could appeal to NOBEL CERT mainly in below cases:

Non acceptance of client’s application for type examination certification; and
Granting, suspending, withdrawing or denying of type examination certification.

The received appeals may be received from any party having interest regarding:

the product is being certified; or
previously certified; or
NOBEL CERT performance

NOBEL CERT deals with the appeals according to appeal handling procedure and shall be responsible for all decisions at all levels of the appeal handling process.

NOBEL CERT acknowledges the receipt of the complaint and provides the client with progress reports and the outcome.

e) Complaints: NOBEL CERT investigates the complaint received regarding the client to decide what action need to be taken and the same shall be communicated to the client at an appropriate time. The identity of the complainant shall not be disclosed.

The received complaints may be received from any party having interest regarding:

the product is being certified; or
previously certified; or
NOBEL CERT performance

NOBEL CERT deals with the appeals according to complaint handling procedure and shall be responsible for all decisions at all levels of the complaint handling process.

NOBEL CERT acknowledges the receipt of the complaint and provides the client with progress reports and the outcome.

Rules & Regulations-Type examination

Rules and regulations for voluntary conformity certification for the products within scope of ATEX directive

I-O-21 , Rev: 00

1. SUBJECT MATTER

all equipment-group II, equipment category 3;

among equipment-groups I and II, equipment-categories M2 and 2, only the equipment which are not classified as internal combustion engines and electrical equipment (e.g. non-electrical mechanical equipment); and

This regulation is adopted and approved by NOBEL CERT, and is applicable to NOBEL CERT and the applicant of the above-mentioned conformity assessment service (the "client"), except for the cases that the mentioned parties expressly agree on the exceptions to this regulation.

Within this regulation, the applicable contractual conditions stipulated between NOBEL CERT and the client are also defined, taking as essential elements of this regulations:

by the CLIENT side, the acceptance of the pertinent NOBEL CERT quotation, the presentation of the application and the acceptance of this regulation;

by NOBEL CERT side, the order confirmation, once the documentation has been received from the CLIENT.

The CLIENT entrusts NOBEL CERT with the relevant service to issue the pertinent documents attesting conformity of product as described above.

In case of failure on solving the non-conformities in the specified deadlines, NOBEL CERT issues to the CLIENT a communication with the negative result, requires the CLIENT to pay for the activity carried out up to that point.

In the case of an explicit request by the CLIENT, NOBEL CERT also sends the relevant evaluation reports to the client.

2. GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

2.1. Attaining the certification

Issuance Type examination certificate, and its maintenance, where applicable, depend on:

the availability of the CLIENT to submit its produced product sample/s and itself to the ordinary, supplementary and documental assessments within the timeframe envisaged and indicated by NOBEL CERT;

the positive result of the aforementioned conformity assessment activities, performed by NOBEL CERT;

the payment of the amounts due, on any basis, to NOBEL CERT (including the activities of issuing and the variation/re-issue of the certificates).

2.2. Samples

If required, the samples must reach the laboratory indicated by NOBEL CERT accompanied by the documents needed by NOBEL CERT testing lab procedures. All the transport expenses are borne by the CLIENT. It is the responsibility of the CLIENT to collect the samples at the end of the tests.

Any resulted material from testing, will be immediately disposed of by NOBEL CERT.

All explosion proof tests are considered as destructive and therefore after the tests are completed, NOBEL CERT is not responsible for returning the samples to the customer in the same form and condition as they were delivered to NOBEL CERT.

The client shall prepare the testing sample/s according to the quantity and the technical specifications which NOBEL CERT requires.

2.3. Verification personnel and resource for testing

The testing activities are outsourced to the accredited associated laboratories.

NOBEL CERT is anyway fully responsible for every outsourced activity and retains the responsibility for issuing, maintaining, extending, limiting, suspending or withdrawing the ATEX Certification.

NOBEL CERT guarantees that the subject to which the subcontract is entrusted is competent and conforms to the applicable regulatory provisions and is not involved in the design and manufacture of the product, so as not to compromise impartiality as set out in par. 2.5 above.

2.4. Confidentiality

All the documents relating to the assessment activity (documentation, recordings, communications, assessment reports, etc.) are considered confidential, without prejudice to what is provided for by legislative provisions.

Note: any information about the client obtained from sources other than the client (e.g. from the complainant or from regulators) is treated by NOBEL CERT as confidential.

Access to and consultation of the documents relating to the activities in hand is reserved to NOBEL CERT personnel involved in the conformity assessment process.

Documents are property of the CLIENT, when acquired by NOBEL CERT in relation to the subject matter of this regulation, will be maintained by NOBEL CERT for at least 10 years from issuance date of certificate, unless stricter specific rules apply.

The client accepts the data processing procedures required by law and allows the inclusion of its company name in the list of NOBEL CERT references.

2.5. Impartiality

NOBEL CERT, in its capacity as PCB, is required to guarantee impartiality during all the conformity assessment activities; in this respect, NOBEL CERT avails of a process to assess and manage the risks of impartiality.

All prohibited tasks regarding impartiality are described in M-M-03 (Limitations , Observations & most important forbidden activities)

2.6. NOBEL CERT Ethics Code and Legislative Decree 231 of 8 June 2001

By signing the Certification Contract, the CLIENT declares to have viewed, to be familiar with the content of the NOBEL CERT Ethics Code and to have accepted its content.

In particular, failure of the CLIENT to observe any one of the provisions of the Ethics Code will imply a serious breach of the obligations of this regulation and legitimate NOBEL CERT to terminate this with immediate effect, pursuant to article 1456 of the Civil Code.

To this end, NOBEL CERT must communicate to the CLIENT, by registered letter with notification of receipt, or other modality valid for all purposes and effects of law, the motivated intention to avail of the termination clause.

Furthermore, The CLIENT behavior which results in the initiation of judicial proceedings to ascertain its relevance according to Leg. Dec. 231/01, of which NOBEL CERT has become familiar with in any way, will legitimate the latter to withdraw from the Contract of certification for just cause.

2.7. Position of NOBEL CERT as PCB

for the purpose of issuing Type examination certificate, NOBEL CERT does not act nor undertake the responsibilities as a notified body.

NOBE CERT acts as only a third party certification body and will issue unaccredited conformity certificate.

2.8. Force majeure

3. CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT PROCESS

3.1. Presentation of the Request

The CLIENT has the right to request a quotation in advance, in which NOBEL CERT gives a detailed description of the activities carried out in its capacity as PCB and of the relevant Price applied.

The quotation will include the following information:

description of the certification Service;

references to this Rules & Regulation of certification;

the manner in which the Service is provided;

amount due, according to NOBEL CERT Price analysis

invoicing and payment terms

In case of acceptance of the quotation, the CLIENT is required to send NOBEL CERT:

approval on quotation;

acceptance this rules and regulation, by the legal representative, or its attorney, or adequately delegated person;

any purchase order, if required by The CLIENT

general information about the CLIENT (company name, name, address, legal status, etc.);

description of the product to certify and the relevant production site;

documentation to assess the conformity of the product to the applicable requirements;

There is a confirmation for agreement with this rule and regulation in application form.

The Request must be presented in a distinct manner for each type of product, or rather for each representative sample of a specific production. The type may also include product variants. The product variants must be indicated in an attachment to the application.

Acceptance by NOBEL CERT of the presented application by the CLIENT depends on the positive application review result by the competent NOBEL CERT personnel; then the quotation for certification is issued and executed by NOBEL CERT.

This is followed by the planning phase of the activity by NOBEL CERT, with communication to the CLIENT the ways of the service provision.

NOBEL CERT does not guarantee in any way the positive result of the verification activity and, consequently, the issuance of the Type examination certificate.

in cases which the client has urgent need and obligated for announcement the status of the certification progress to relevant interested parties, it may request NOBEL CERT to issue a statement for certification progress.

Note: statement of certification progress shall not announce in any way that the certification has been done and only shall include the progress of product testing and evaluation of technical documentation.

NOBEL CERT reserves the right to recognize documents issued by other certification bodies, namely certificates, declarations of conformity, test reports, reports attesting the conformity of the products.

3.2. Certification process

3.2.1 Requested documentation

according to annex VIII of ATEX directive, the technical documentation shall contain at least the following elements:

a general description of the product;

conceptual design and manufacturing drawings and schemes of components, sub-assemblies, circuits, etc.;

descriptions and explanations necessary for the understanding of those drawings and schemes and the operation of the product;

results of design calculations made, analysis and examinations carried out, etc.; and

test reports.

This documentation must be provided in Italian or English language; any other language is accepted only if this has been envisaged in the quotation phase.

for more details, please see I-O-20 (Guideline for preparation product technical file for ATEX certification) and also Guide for preparing user manual for Explosion proof products.