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1.This Directive applies to personal protective equipment, hereinafter referred to as ‘PPE’.
It lays down the conditions governing its placing on the market and free movement within the Community and the basic safety requirements which PPE must satisfy in order to ensure the health protection and safety of users.
2.For the purposes of this Directive, PPE shall mean any device or appliance designed to be worn or held by an individual for protection against one or more health and safety hazards.
PPE shall also cover:
(a)a unit constituted by several devices or appliances which have been integrally combined by the manufacturer for the protection of an individual against one or more potentially simultaneous risks;
(b)a protective device or appliance combined, separably or inseparably, with personal non-protective equipment worn or held by an individual for the execution of a specific activity;
(c)interchangeable PPE components which are essential to its satisfactory functioning and used exclusively for such equipment.
3.Any system placed on the market in conjunction with PPE for its connection to another external, additional device shall be regarded as an integral part of that equipment even if the system is not intended to be worn or held permanently by the user for the entire period of risk exposure.
4.This Directive does not apply to:
PPE covered by another directive designed to achieve the same objectives as this Directive with regard to placing on the market, free movement of goods and safety,
the PPE classes specified in the list of excluded products in Annex I, independently of the reason for exclusion mentioned in the first indent.