Safety signs, fire equipment and emergency lighting

• Regulation (EU) 2024/3110 — Construction Products for fire equipment
• Directive 92/58/EEC on safety signs at work
• Directive 2014/35/EU — Low Voltage for emergency lighting
• Regulation (EU) 2023/988 — GPSR

Who has to appoint one

Manufacturers and sellers outside the Union placing fire safety and emergency equipment on the EU market. Fire detection and alarm products covered by a harmonised construction standard need a declaration of performance and, for most, third-party certification.

Thresholds and exemptions

None. Consumer smoke alarms are covered by the same harmonised standard as commercial ones and require notified body involvement.

What must appear on the label

For construction products: CE marking with the notified body number, the declaration of performance reference, and the declared performance. For emergency lighting: CE marking, ratings and duration. Safety signs must use the harmonised pictograms and colours.

Marketplace fields

Marketplaces have removed large volumes of smoke alarms and extinguishers lacking valid certification, and this is one of the categories where counterfeit certificates are most common.

Documentation you must hold

Declaration of performance and the certificate of constancy of performance from a notified body for products under harmonised standards, technical documentation, factory production control records, and for emergency lighting the declaration of conformity and photometric data.

Standards and testing

EN 14604 for smoke alarms, EN 54 series for fire detection and alarm systems, EN 3 for portable extinguishers, EN 1838 and EN 60598-2-22 for emergency lighting, with third-party certification and ongoing factory production control surveillance.

Language requirements

Installation and maintenance instructions in the language of each member state, and safety signs must use text in the national language where text is used at all.

When it applies

Before placing on the market. Certificates require ongoing surveillance and lapse if the audits are not maintained.

How long records are kept

Ten years for the documentation and the certification records.

What happens if you do not comply

Withdrawal and recall, and severe liability where equipment fails in a fire. Several member states pursue criminal charges for supplying non-conforming fire safety products.

Who enforces it

Market surveillance authorities, fire authorities, notified bodies and customs.

Where the boundary lies

Fire safety products are construction products with a declaration of performance rather than consumer goods with a declaration of conformity, and the two documents are not interchangeable. First aid kits, by contrast, sit in GPSR and national workplace rules.

Questions we are asked

Can a smoke alarm be self-declared?

No. EN 14604 requires third-party certification with ongoing factory production control surveillance by a notified body.

Are safety signs regulated products?

The signage rules bind employers rather than sellers, but photoluminescent performance claims are substantiable and are tested.