As of 1 June 2012, manufacturers and importers of personal protective equipment into the EAEU (Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan) are required to comply with the requirements set out in the Technical Regulation on the Safety of Personal Protective Equipment (TR TS 019/2011) – the EAEU TR on PPE.
The adopted TR on PPE applies to a wide range of products intended to protect the wearer from harmful factors. The list of products includes protective gloves, overalls and coats protecting from non-toxic dust, PPE protecting from vibration (footwear and hand protection), helmets, protective goggles, respiratory protective devices (masks, respirators, etc.), etc.
Any PPE that is placed on the EAEU market must comply with a set of safety and marking requirements. In particular, the PPE must provide the necessary level of protection from the harmful and hazardous agents or factors it is intended to be protecting from.
The TR on PPE contains detailed safety requirements for each type of PPE that is in scope of the TR.
Each PPE unit must have special marking that must be placed either directly on the product and on the packaging. It is not mandatory to mark the packaging if it is transparent and/or allows to read the marking on the product itself without unpacking.
If it is not possible to mark a product then the marking must be placed on a label that is attached to the product and that is not easily removable. If it is not possible to apply the marking in full directly to the product itself, it is allowed to omit some parts of the information, provided that the relevant information is placed on the individual packaging of the product and on the hard-to-remove label attached to the product.
PPE must undergo conformity assessment procedure in either of the two forms of conformity assessment:
-the issue of a declaration of conformity; or
-certification.
The form of conformity assessment depends on the type of PPE and its potential hazard to the wearer. Annex 4 to the TR on PPE lists which classes of PPE require a declaration, and which must undergo certification.
There are two classes of PPE in the EAEU: class 1 poses a minimum risk to the user and class 2 poses a significant risk. Class 1 PPE requires a declaration (self-declaration of the manufacturer based on own evidence of compliance) and Class 2 must undergo the certification process.
All PPE must be marked with the EAC mark – the EAEU mark of conformity.
Law: Technical Regulation on the Safety of Personal Protective Equipment adopted by Decision No. 878 of 9 December 2011