Certification by market
A CE marking and an EN test report are a legal requirement for PPE sold into the European Economic Area, and UKCA for Great Britain. They are not a universal requirement. This page sets out plainly what each market actually needs, so you can decide whether the certified route is worth it for your shipment — or whether specification-led supply is the sensible one.
Not every market needs the same paperwork
This is the part we get asked about most often, and it is worth saying plainly. A distributor supplying a mining contractor in South Africa, a fabrication workshop in Nigeria, or a general works supplier in the Middle East does not need a notified body involved, and paying for a category III type examination on every line would simply make us uncompetitive.
So we quote to the market. Tell us the destination country and whether your customer has a specification of their own, and we will price accordingly.
| Destination | Typically required | What we do |
|---|---|---|
| EU / EEA | CE marking, EN standard test report, Declaration of Conformity, EN 407 / EN 388 / EN 1492 as applicable | Full compliance package, produced from the same production batch |
| United Kingdom | UKCA marking and the designated standard, or CE accepted during the transition | UKCA documentation arranged through the same audited supply chain |
| North America | ANSI/ISEA 105 for cut, ANSI/ISEA 138 for impact, ANSI/ISEA 107 for hi-vis | ANSI-rated production runs available on the same products |
| Africa, Middle East, South & Southeast Asia | Usually no third-party marking is legally required; the importer's own specification and the end customer's quality system usually drive the requirement | Specification-led supply: fibre content, gauge, coating, tensile and colour fastness data supplied on request, at a lower cost than a certified route |
| Any market, customer-specified | Whatever the buyer's own specification states | We work to the buyer's specification and quote against it directly |
We are not going to put a CE mark on a product that has not been through the conformity assessment. What we will do is tell you exactly what each option costs and what paperwork travels with it, so you can decide whether the certified route is worth it for your market or whether the specification route is the sensible one.
The paperwork behind the product
Every product family is produced against a written specification and a named standard. The relevant test report travels in the box with the goods, produced from the same production batch.
EN 388 cut levels explained and EN 1492 lifting sling safety cover the two standards buyers ask about most.
Checks before loading
We select audited manufacturers and hold them to a written specification. Every shipment is inspected against that specification before loading, and the inspection record is filed against the order.
How we inspect sets out the process in full.
Specification refresh
Standards and product lines do move. If you hold a specification or a quotation from us that predates the current release, ask for a refreshed version and we will re-issue it against the current product lines.
Tell us the destination and we will price it right
One line — the country you are shipping into, or simply "certified" or "specification only" — is enough for us to come back with the right documentation and the right number.