PED - Directive 2014/68/EU

What PED is and why it matters

The Pressure Equipment Directive (PED) — formally Directive 2014/68/EU on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to the making available on the market of pressure equipment — is the EU law that governs the design, manufacture and conformity assessment of equipment that holds fluids under pressure. If you make, import or sell vessels, boilers, piping, heat exchangers or pressure accessories, PED almost certainly sets the rules you must follow before that equipment can carry the CE mark and be placed on the Union market.

PED matters because pressure carries a distinctive hazard: stored energy that can be released suddenly and violently if equipment fails. Rather than treating all pressure equipment the same, the Directive scales its requirements to the risk, so a small low-pressure accessory faces a light touch while a large high-pressure vessel handling a dangerous fluid must pass through rigorous third-party assessment. For a manufacturer, PED is the framework that determines how much engineering rigour, documentation and notified-body involvement a given product needs before it can lawfully reach customers.

📄 Official text: Directive 2014/68/EU on pressure equipment — on EUR-Lex →

Who PED applies to

PED applies across the supply chain, with duties scaling by role:

Manufacturers — anyone who designs and makes pressure equipment or assemblies, or has them made and markets them under their own name or trademark. They carry the heaviest obligations: classification, essential safety requirements, conformity assessment, technical documentation and CE marking.
Authorised representatives — operators appointed in writing by a manufacturer to carry out defined tasks on their behalf within the EU.
Importers — businesses bringing pressure equipment from outside the EU into the Union market. They must verify the manufacturer has carried out the right conformity assessment, drawn up documentation and applied the CE marking, and add their own identification.
Distributors — operators further down the chain who must act with due care, check that CE marking, documentation and instructions are present, and not make available equipment they know or should presume to be non-compliant.

PED covers pressure equipment and assemblies with a maximum allowable pressure (PS) greater than 0.5 bar. This includes pressure vessels, piping, safety accessories and pressure accessories, as well as assemblies that combine several such items into an integrated whole. The Directive sets out exclusions for equipment governed by other regimes — for example transportable pressure equipment, equipment for nuclear use covered elsewhere, and items whose pressure hazard is not the main concern.

Key dates and timeline

2014 — Directive 2014/68/EU was adopted, recasting the earlier Pressure Equipment Directive 97/23/EC and aligning it with the EU’s New Legislative Framework for product legislation.
19 July 2016 — the Directive applies from this date, when its main provisions took effect and 97/23/EC was repealed. Certain classification and definition articles applied from an earlier date during the transition.
Because PED is a directive, it is transposed into national law by each Member State rather than applying directly, so the operative requirements reach businesses through national implementing legislation.

Core requirements

Classification into categories I–IV

The defining feature of PED is hazard-based classification. Each item of pressure equipment is placed into one of four categories — I, II, III or IV — in ascending order of hazard. The category is determined by the combination of the maximum allowable pressure, the volume or nominal size of the equipment, the state of the fluid (gas or liquid) and the fluid group. Fluids are divided into Group 1 (dangerous fluids — explosive, flammable, toxic, oxidising and similar) and Group 2 (all others), with Group 1 attracting stricter treatment. The Directive provides conformity assessment tables and charts that translate these parameters into a category. Some equipment below the relevant thresholds falls under Sound Engineering Practice (SEP) instead, must be made safely and given instructions, but does not carry the CE marking under PED.

Essential safety requirements

All pressure equipment within scope must meet the essential safety requirements (ESRs) set out in the Directive’s annex. These cover design (including for foreseeable loads, fatigue, corrosion and the means of safe filling, draining and inspection), manufacturing (qualified procedures and personnel for permanent joining and non-destructive testing, traceability of materials), and the materials themselves. The ESRs are expressed as outcomes; manufacturers commonly demonstrate conformity by applying harmonised standards, which confer a presumption of conformity, though other technical solutions that meet the ESRs are also permitted.

Conformity assessment modules scaling with category

The conformity assessment route scales directly with the category, so higher-hazard equipment faces more demanding procedures and greater notified body involvement. PED uses the EU’s modular system: Category I can typically use internal production control (Module A) without a notified body, while Categories II, III and IV require modules involving a notified body — for example EU-type examination combined with production controls, or full quality assurance and unit verification at the top end. The manufacturer chooses among the modules permitted for the category. Where a notified body is involved, it carries out the relevant examinations, audits or surveillance and is identified by its four-digit number alongside the CE marking.

EU declaration of conformity and CE marking

Once the applicable assessment is complete, the manufacturer draws up an EU declaration of conformity stating that the equipment meets PED (and any other applicable Union legislation), and affixes the CE marking. For equipment below the relevant thresholds that uses sound engineering practice, no CE marking is applied under PED. Equipment must be accompanied by instructions and safety information in a language easily understood by users in the Member State concerned. The manufacturer must keep the technical documentation and declaration available for market surveillance authorities for the retention period set by the Directive.

Assemblies

Where several pieces of pressure equipment are combined into a functional whole, the resulting assembly is itself subject to a global conformity assessment. The assessment considers the integration of the components and the most severe category among them, ensuring the assembly as built is safe, not just its individual parts.

Obligations by role

Manufacturers — classify equipment into the correct category, meet the essential safety requirements, run the conformity assessment for that category, compile technical documentation, draw up the EU declaration of conformity, apply the CE marking and provide instructions.
Authorised representatives — carry out the specific tasks set out in their written mandate.
Importers — verify the right assessment, documentation and CE marking are in place, add their identification and refuse non-compliant equipment.
Distributors — check CE marking, documentation and instructions are present, handle and store equipment with due care, and stop supply where they believe equipment is non-compliant.

Enforcement

Each Member State designates market surveillance authorities to enforce PED and notifies the conformity assessment bodies (notified bodies) that operate under it. In Denmark, the Danish Safety Technology Authority (Sikkerhedsstyrelsen) is the competent authority for pressure equipment. Authorities can require corrective action, restrict or prohibit the making available of non-compliant equipment, order withdrawals and recalls, and act where CE marking has been wrongly applied.

Because PED is part of the EU framework, action taken in one Member State can be shared and mirrored across the Union through market surveillance cooperation. Consequences for non-compliance are set at national level and can include orders to stop sales, mandatory corrective action, fines and the reputational cost of a public alert. The qualitative reality for a manufacturer is that misclassifying equipment — or skipping the notified-body route a higher category demands — exposes both the business and the end users to serious risk.

PED is one of several pressure-related regimes, and choosing the right one is the first compliance step:

Simple pressure vessels — certain mass-produced, simple welded vessels for air or nitrogen fall under the Simple Pressure Vessels Directive 2014/29/EU (SPVD) instead of PED.
Transportable pressure equipment — cylinders, tanks and similar equipment for the transport of dangerous goods fall under the Transportable Pressure Equipment Directive 2010/35/EU (TPED), which uses the Pi marking rather than CE.
Equipment such as gas appliances may also engage the Gas Appliances Regulation, and overlapping Union legislation can apply alongside PED where relevant.

Getting compliant

Confirm your equipment falls under PED rather than SPVD, TPED or another regime.
Determine the maximum allowable pressure, volume or size, fluid state and fluid group, and classify the equipment into Category I–IV (or SEP).
Meet the essential safety requirements, using harmonised standards where available.
Select and complete the conformity assessment module(s) permitted for the category, involving a notified body where required.
For assemblies, carry out the global assessment of the combined equipment.
Compile and retain technical documentation.
Draw up the EU declaration of conformity and apply the CE marking (with the notified body number where relevant).
Provide instructions and safety information in the right languages.

How Conphora helps

Conphora monitors PED and maps your products against its requirements, helping you confirm the correct category, the applicable essential safety requirements and the right conformity assessment route before they become enforcement problems. The platform helps you generate and keep the right documentation and the EU declaration of conformity, and alerts you when obligations change so your compliance stays current.

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Sources and further reading

This guide is for general information and is not legal advice.

Last updated: 12 June 2026