The Pressure Equipment Directive (PED) is a European Union legal act that regulates the design, manufacture, and conformity assessment of pressure equipment and assemblies. Compliance with the PED is required for a range of products available on the market, especially in hydraulics. Essentially, non-compliance with the provisions of the Pressure Equipment Directive means the product should not be allowed to be placed on the market. It was introduced to ensure user safety and harmonize requirements across the entire European market from a formal standpoint. From a practical perspective, it imposes on manufacturers and distributors the necessity to adhere to its norms.
The PED is Directive 2014/68/EU, which replaced the earlier Directive 97/23/EC (also known as the Pressure Equipment Directive). It defines the minimum requirements that pressure equipment must meet to be legally placed on the market within the European Union. Failure of a product to comply (of course, a product that falls within the scope of this directive) means that the product should not be distributed, and installing it can also lead to the inability to obtain technical acceptance for a given building or installation.
The PED introduces this concept and specifies which products fall under it. The term "pressure equipment" includes, among others:
Pressure equipment, in case of failure, can pose a serious risk to a building, potentially leading to leaks, flooding, and significant damage. Less frequently, it can also constitute a threat to human health and life, as well as to the environment - if the systems contain chemicals such as, for example, glycol in a solar system or refrigerant, etc. The PED therefore ensures uniform safety standards for all European Union countries, while simultaneously eliminating trade barriers within the EU.
A manufacturer of pressure equipment who meets the requirements of the directive and marks its product with the CE marking can sell it throughout the Union without additional certifications. They also have the right to issue a so-called EU Declaration of Conformity for the product, confirming compliance with the norms contained in this specific directive.
✅ Although the EU creates a vast amount of unnecessary bureaucracy, the Pressure Equipment Directive is rather a beneficial phenomenon for Customers or users. Thanks to it, we have a guarantee that sold storage tanks, boilers, or heat exchangers meet some obvious standards and won't rupture after exceeding low pressures.
On the other hand, it is not surrounded by excessive bureaucracy; the system operates on the principle of a large degree of trust, is not strictly controlled, and relies on the aforementioned CE Declarations of Conformity issued by manufacturers (or distributors). Of course, we must also remember that this is a system largely based on trust.
The Pressure Equipment Directive applies to most pressure equipment and assemblies where:
The PED covers both fully manufactured equipment and components intended for incorporation into larger systems.
However, the Pressure Equipment Directive provides for certain exclusions – for example, it does not apply to equipment covered by other regulations. There are a whole series of them, including:
The manufacturer of pressure equipment is obliged, among other things, to:
Upon the customer's request, the seller of pressure equipment - e.g., a heat exchanger - should provide the declaration of conformity related to this directive (if the product is covered by it). It can be issued by them or by the manufacturer. It may be needed for the acceptance of certain investments, especially in the area of public projects. Formally speaking, every product on the market should comply with the EU standards to which it is subject.
The Pressure Equipment Directive (PED) is a key document in the area of pressure equipment safety - at least in the EU's intentions. Thanks to it, users in principle can be assured that the equipment used meets technical and operational requirements. Manufacturers, in turn, gain the ability to freely introduce their products to the European market without having to check separate standards or regulations in each country.
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