Regulation 765 determines the use of the CE-mark. The CE-mark is intended to be used only by the producer, bringing a product onto the EU market.
Article 30
General principles of the CE marking
1. The CE marking shall be affixed only by the manufacturer or his authorised representative.
2. The CE marking as presented in Annex II shall be affixed only to products to which its affixing is provided for by specific Community harmonisation legislation, and shall not be affixed to any other product.
Since the requirements clearly specify “only by the manufacturer” and “only to products”, these requirements have has been interpreted by RvA to mean that the logo should not be used in any other way, i.e. this includes the use on certificates. A CAB shall refer the appropriate regulation on its certificate (as the requirements document), but it should not use the CE mark on their certificates.
When we observe this situation with accredited CAB’s, we raise a nonconformity against e.g. cl. 4.1.3.1 of ISO/IEC 17065, that for those observations, the certification body did not “exercise the control as specified by the certification scheme over … use and display of … marks of conformity…”
1) Is this approach generally supported?
2) We (and our CAB’s) have observed several certificates in the market with CE marking attached (accredited by various NAB’s). How should we proceed?
March 2021
It is confirmed that the CE mark should only be used by the manufacturer and only on the products to which it pertains. This means that:
- The CE mark should not be used on the certificates issued by the CAB’s;
- When instances are found that CAB’s do not comply with the above, NAB’s shall ensure that compliance to Article 30 is restored, e.g. by raising a nonconformity for this issue.
The NAB’s attention is requested for this matter.