The Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Directive is now over 20 years old and to reflect current technologies and processes for developing and bringing PPE to the market, it is being superseded by the PPE Regulation. The PPE Directive was first adopted by the European Council on 21 December 1989. However, now the Directive is being superseded by a new European Regulation (EU) 2016/425 on personal protection equipment. The new Regulation was adopted on 12 February 2016 and then published in the Official Journal. It applies from 21 April 2018, with a one year transition period until 21 April 2019. All PPE manufactured after 21 April 2019 will need to comply with the new Regulation.
The PPE regulation is mandatory therefore in the PPE industry, it is a legal requirement to comply. Any health and safety professionals or facilities managers procuring PPE need to be aware of the changes, to ensure equipment meets the new regulation.
It is also worth being aware that while the previous directive focused on manufacturers placing products in the market, the new regulation involves the whole supply chain. This means that distributors or anyone in the supply chain should take appropriate measures to ensure that PPE meets the requirements. The new regulation has been developed to enhance consumer safety and ensure fair competition between companies.
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