The Pressure Equipment Regulations 1999

User inspectorates

22.—(1) For the purposes of these Regulations, a user inspectorate is a body which has been appointed to carry out one or more of the conformity assessment procedures referred to in regulations 13 and 14 and as more specifically defined in paragraph (7) and, which has been—

(a) appointed in the United Kingdom pursuant to paragraph (2); or,

(b) appointed by a member State other than the United Kingdom, and has been notified by the member State concerned to the Commission and other member States pursuant to Article 12 of the Pressure Equipment Directive.

(2) The Secretary of State may from time to time appoint such persons and on such conditions as he thinks fit to be a user inspectorate.

(3) No body shall be appointed under this regulation unless the Secretary of State is satisfied that the group of which the user inspectorate is part applies a common safety policy as regards the technical specifications for the design, manufacture, inspection, maintenance and use of pressure equipment and assemblies.

(4) An appointment—

(a) may relate to all descriptions of pressure equipment or assemblies or such descriptions (which may be framed by reference to any circumstances whatsoever) of pressure equipment or assemblies as the Secretary of State may from time to time determine;

(b) may be made subject to such conditions as the Secretary of State may from time to time determine, and such conditions may include conditions which are to apply upon or following termination of the appointment;

(c) shall, without prejudice to the generality of sub-paragraph (b) above, require that body, subject to paragraph (10), to carry out the procedures and specific tasks for which it has been appointed including (where so provided as part of those procedures) surveillance to ensure that the manufacturer of the pressure equipment or assemblies or his authorised representative established within the Community or the importer, as the case may be, duly fulfils the obligations arising out of the relevant conformity assessment procedure;

(d) shall be terminated upon 90 days' notice in writing to the Secretary of State at the request of the user inspectorate; and

(e) may be terminated if it appears to the Secretary of State that any of the conditions of the appointment are not complied with.

(5) Subject to paragraphs (4)(d) and (e), an appointment under this regulation may be for the time being or for such period as may be specified in the appointment.

(6) The user inspectorates shall act exclusively for the group of which they are part.

(7) The conformity assessment procedures applicable by user inspectorates shall be modules A1, C1, F and G, as described in Schedule 4 and for this purpose references in those modules to “notified body” shall be read as if they are references to “user inspectorate”.

(8) The pressure equipment and assemblies to which the application relates may be used only in establishments operated by the group of which the user inspectorate is part.

(9) The pressure equipment and assembly, the conformity of which has been assessed by a user inspectorate, shall not bear the CE marking.

(10) A user inspectorate appointed by the Secretary of State shall not be required to carry out the functions referred to in paragraph (4)(c) if the documents submitted to it in relation to carrying out such functions are not in English or another language acceptable to that body.