Atex guidelines

-33-and to assist administrative co-operation Member States are encouraged to provide the competentCommission services with details of any use of Article 8(5).9 DESIGNATION OF NOTIFIED BODIESAnnex XI of directive 94/9/EC defines the criteria that these bodies must fulfil. Bodies which areable to provide proof of their conformity with Annex XI by presenting to their Competent Authoritiesa certificate of accreditation and evidence that all additional requirements have been met or othermeans of documentary proof as defined below, are considered notifiable and in this respect theyconform to Annex XI of the directive. The appropriate (voluntary) harmonised standards of theEN 45000 series provide useful and appropriate mechanisms towards presumption of conformity toAnnex XI. However, this does not rule out the possibility that bodies not conforming to theharmonised standards may be notified, on the grounds that compliance is obligatory only with respectto the criteria set out in Annex XI to the directive.Notified Bodies provide the professional and independent judgements, which consequently enablemanufacturers or their authorised representatives to fulfil the procedures in order to presumeconformity to directive 94/9/EC. Their intervention is required• for issuing of EC-type examination certificates, and for inspection, verification andtesting of equipment, protective systems, devices and components before they can beplaced on the market and/or put into service;• for the assessment of manufacturer’s quality assurance system in the production phase.The bodies responsible for undertaking the work referred to in Article 8 of the directive must benotified by the Member State under whose jurisdiction they fall, on their own responsibility to theCommission and the other Member States of the EU. This notification also includes the relevantscope of competence for which that body has been assessed as technically competent to certifyagainst the Essential Health and Safety Requirements as shown in the directive. For the MemberStates of the EU, this responsibility of notification involves the obligation to ensure that the NotifiedBodies permanently maintain the technical competence required by directive 94/9/EC and that theykeep their notifying authorities informed about the performance of their tasks.Therefore, a Member State of the EU, which does not have a technically competent body under itsjurisdiction to notify, is not required to make such a notification. This means that a Member State ofthe EU which does not have such a body is not required to create one if it does not feel the need to doso. A manufacturer always has the choice of contacting any body with the appropriate scope oftechnical competence, which has been notified by a Member State.On their own responsibility Member States reserve the right not to notify a body and to remove anappointment. In the latter circumstance the relevant Member States shall inform the Commission andall other Member States.For further information concerning Notified Bodies, e.g. testing, inspection facilities and subcontracting,please see the “Guide to the implementation of directives based on New Approach andGlobal Approach”.