i RON SINCLAIR, Baseeta's managing director, made a keynote speech including material developed with CHRIS AGIUS, of the IECEx Secretariat, at HazardEx 2008 in Peterborough in February. This is an edited summary. TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN Developments in the IECEx Scheme and Standardisation Certification and Standardisation are two sides of the same >oin, very different from each other but difficult to separate. Afow years ago, the IECEx Intemational Cortiticaton Scheme for Electical Equipment for installation in Explosive ‘Atmospheres was brand new, and everyone ‘was watching to see where it was going. Now wo can stato confidently that it has truly arrived and is beginning to dominate ‘much ofthe certification process. in respect ‘of Equipment, if you are not with IECEx, you ‘are limiting your market place, have previously compared 1ECEx with ATEX and concluded that, although you currently need ATEX for meeting the mandatory requirements in Europe, ECEX les @ fer greater degree of confidence in ‘surchased product, as it is a true ‘Type 5° ‘oduct Certification Scheme, appiod equally to all products. ‘This is in contrast to ATEX which is not a true product certfieation scheme and does not ‘even approacit'oerfeaion’ for some ‘equipment where the ‘internal Contra of Production’ module fs mandated. Even the high inertia European Commission hes been persuaded to make the fst move towards, ‘accepting an JECE Cartficate as heving at least equel status to an ATEX EC-Type Examination Cerificate, It wil bea year or so yet, but discussions are underway in the UN ECE in Geneva towards achieving that goal, At the IEGEx Management Committee ‘Meatings in Denver last auturnn, we heard ‘ww much ofthe oll end gas industry is gearing up to make an IECEx Cartificate a condition of purchase, even i other certificates (such as ATEX for Europe) are additionally required for local reasons. ‘The acceptability ofthe instalation and subsequent inspection Is down tothe competence ofthe individuals involved, TECEx is now at an edvanced stage in proparing a scheme forthe certification of individual engineers and practitioners. Mediles will be based on specific fypes of competence covering the fll range from plant design, through zoning to inspection ‘and instalation. The fist modules wil be for those involved at ctferent Ives in the repair of equipnient and wi drectly support the Service Facility Scheme. In Europe, we are fortunate thet technical adoption of the IECEx Schamo is so simple. Our Genelec stendards, mandated under the ATEX Directive, are largely Identical to ‘tho IEC standards used by IECEx. Normally, only the labeling requirements differ and, since the IEC standards don't prevent the use of the ATEX marking, Its 2 simple matter to have single marking plate which covers both schemes. on Sint op) and Cri Agius jolt authors ofthe paper ADVANTAGES OF IECEX JECEx gives added confidence in the product for many reasons, including: ‘* Aclear single scheme backed up by total visibility of certification on the web site ‘ Real time change in status of certificates If there is a problem + Acceptance into the scheme only following peer assessment by current practitioners + Regular reviews of the output from certification bodies.