French Market Surveillance of the CE-marked explosives and pyrotechnic articles

Nicolas Apchin (1) , Claire Coqueblin (2) , Fabien Coudour (3) , Patricia Rotureau (1)

1 INERIS - Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques
2 Ministère de l'environnement
3 DREAL PAYS DE LA LOIRE NANTES FRA

The Directive 2013/29/EU for conformity assessment procedures of all pyrotechnic articles [1] and the Directive 2014/28/EU for explosives for civil uses [2], require each Member State to carry out Union Market Surveillance and control of pyrotechnic articles and civilian explosives entering the Union market (Article 39 of Directive 2013/29/EU and Article 41 of Directive 2014/28/EU). Accidental Risks Division of INERIS has a testing laboratory accredited by COFRAC (French Accreditation Body) according to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard for the testing of explosives, pyrotechnic articles and fireworks for both these Directives. In the context of French market surveillance of CE-marked explosives and pyrotechnic articles and in relation to its long-term experience in testing these products, INERIS, has been charged by the French Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition (MTES) of the evaluation of these products since 2006. In this paper, we will give some information about the procedures used by INERIS in the framework of French market surveillance (identification of articles from internet sites, validation of selected articles by French administration, purchase and collection directly in public shops, reception, identification/registration and storage in magazines dedicated for fireworks and explosives located on INERIS site at Verneuil-en-Halatte). Sometimes, inspectors of French Ministry can also collect pyrotechnic articles in warehouses and manufacturing sites during their regular inspections and send them to INERIS for control. Financed by French administration, approximately, 100 pyrotechnic articles per year are subject to conformity assessment in this context. After description of INERIS testing facilities, some general features from recent years (2013-2018) will be discussed in this paper in terms of tested pyrotechnic articles and explosives and relating identified minor, major and critical nonconformities associated to labeling, conception and functioning requirements. An annual report is provided by INERIS to French Ministry that alerts on product non-conformities with French importers and notified bodies responsible for the putting on the market of these articles.

Domaines: Ingénierie de l'environnement

Nicolas Apchin, Claire Coqueblin, Fabien Coudour, Patricia Rotureau. French Market Surveillance of the CE-marked explosives and pyrotechnic articles. 44. International Pyrotechnics Society seminar (EUROPYRO 2019), Jun 2019, Tours, France. pp.851-858. ⟨ineris-03237728⟩