Required CE (Euro Conformity) label on hobby electronic projects?

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1
Hello,

Seemed like this question best fit in this forum area...

I'm wanting to start building and selling table lamps or other related items as a side hobby. I've made a couple but a friend said I should look into the conformity of the electrical to CE standards as there may be some legal hurdles/issues that could come up later. For those not familiar it's the big funny looking CE stamp on electronics like the one at this wiki page ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_marking ).

For my projects, each unit is made one at a time. Made of wood with off-the-shelf (Bauhaus and Coop Bau and Hobby) parts. No mass production is intended and they are/will be made on commission, as in when someone wants one then I make it.

The one section that stands out for info on the CE Marking requirements is the Low Voltage Directive:

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Low Voltage Directive (2006/95/EC)

Article 1 states the Directive covers "any equipment designed for use with a voltage rating of between 50 and 1000 V for A.C. and between 75 and 1500 V for D.C, other than the equipment and phenomena listed in Annex II."

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[Annex 2 my units don't fall into]

If I take this literally, then devices I make that use wall current that goes directly inside (required AC/DC conversions internally) would require a CE stamp. But if I make units that are only 12V (it's under the 75VDC as stated) and use a CE rated DC power supply cube that plugs in externally then I'm in the clear from requiring one as the manufacturer of the power cube got his side taken care of. It weird because I've seen this stamp on auto cigarette lighter splitters (12V), USB cables (5V) and crap like that. I read that some companies slap this stamp on just about anything but according to the CE blah blah it's not required.

For the moment I'm not making any of my projects until I get some questions answered.

If anyone has any info that can clear this up that'd be super helpful. Just can't find any info online if there are any kinds of exemption for Hobby related projects or one-offs of these sort of things. Any related links would be great too if anyone has 'em as to what I can and can't do.

I'm not trying to bypass safety, just the opposite. My quality is tight. It's just I can't see shelling out thousands of francs for a hobby that brings in a few bucks for a nice dinner.

If you are curious on the work I've done and what I'm taking about, the link to my hobby site is in my signature.

Thanks in advance.

2
The new LVD is 2014/35/EU. Yours is a bit out of date.

The CE mark is a confirmation that the product is safe for consumers.

It's not required in Switzerland but products must comply with the Swiss regulations which are, to all intents and purposes, the same as those required in the EU.

Whilst conforming to any requirements for electrical safety, this isn't the whole scope. Your lamps will also have to be safe in every other aspect including heating/fire requirements and EMC (important if you've got electronics in there too or are using fluorescent tubes).

You can self-certify for the CE mark but it would be a good idea to back this up with some sort of testing.

I'm not sure about the fire-risk regs for lamps but you are correct with regards to electrical safety - as long as the power brick has a CE mark you'll be fine (I'd try and get hold of copies of supporting documentation or certificates (From TUV, UL etc if you can as there is some rubbish out there).

The LVD covers the mechanical construction of the brick too to ensure it's not going to fall apart and expose wires.

The lamp bulb itself should have a CE mark too.

Disclaimer:

You need to check the regulations yourself. The above are just some pointers in the right direction as I used to do a fair bit of this but it was some time ago.