The Marine Equipment Directive (MED) published 20 December 1996 and amended by 2002/84/EC were adopted into UK Law as implemented by Statutory Instrument 1999 No. 1957 The Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) Regulations 1999.
The UK Regulations came into force and became mandatory on the 5 August 1999. The transition period allowed equipment manufactured before 1 January 1999, in accordance with type-approval procedures in force before 20 December 1996, to be placed on the market before 1 January 2001.
The MED covers any ship flying a flag of an EEA member state. The UK Competent Body is the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) formerly the Marine Safety Agency (MSA). Conformity assessment is through a Notified Body, such as BSI, and the compliance mark is the Ship's Wheel.
The MED covers a vast array of equipment, covering all aspects of a ships safety.
Annex A.1 - lists equipment that requires the assistance of a Notified Body for conformity assessment.
The equipment is listed under the following headings:
- Life-saving appliances
- Marine-pollution prevention
- Fire protection
- Navigation equipment
- Radio-communication equipment
Along with the specific item designations, this Annex lists the applicable SOLAS regulations and International testing standards that must be used and the Modules for conformity assessment.
Annex A.2 - lists equipment for which no detailed testing standards exist in International instruments and as such will require the application of relevant national standards. Therefore, there are no specific conformity assessment requirements.
BSI Product Services are currently accredited for 42 of the product lines listed in Annex A.1 under Life Saving Appliances and Fire Protection and will be increasing this coverage in the future.
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