Compliant Book

CE marking: the rules

Last reviewed: 11 September 2026~5 min read

CE is a claim you make, not a certificate you receive. By affixing it you declare that the product meets every applicable piece of EU harmonisation legislation and that you have carried out the required conformity assessment. There is no authority that issues it, no register it appears in, and no fee.

The form

  • The letters C and E in the prescribed design. If the mark is scaled, the proportions of the design must be respected — stretching it to fit a label is a defect.
  • Minimum height 5mm, unless specific legislation says otherwise.
  • Visible, legible and indelible. A sticker that comes off in normal use does not meet "indelible".
  • Where the nature of the product makes marking on the product impossible or unwarranted, it goes on the packaging and the accompanying documents.
  • Affixed before the product is placed on the market.
  • Where a notified body is involved in the production control phase, its four-digit identification number follows the marking.
Do not surround CE with other marks that could mislead. Markings that could be confused with CE as to meaning or form are prohibited. Other marks may be affixed provided they do not reduce the visibility or legibility of the CE marking. The pattern to avoid is a dense badge cluster where CE is the smallest element.

What CE does not mean

  • It is not a quality mark. It says the product meets legal minimums.
  • It is not tested or approved by the EU. For most products nobody outside your company checked anything.
  • It is not a country of origin mark, and it is not an indication that the product was made in Europe.
  • It is not optional for in-scope products, and it is not permitted for out-of-scope ones. Affixing CE to a product no EU legislation requires it for is itself a problem.

Who may affix it

The manufacturer. Or the authorised representative, where the applicable legislation allows it and the mandate covers it. An importer or distributor who affixes the marking to a product they did not assess has assumed manufacturer obligations, whether they intended to or not — and the same is true of anyone who puts their own name or trademark on a product already on the market.

Multiple regulations, one mark

A product often falls under several acts at once — a connected machine can be subject to the Machinery Regulation, EMC, the Low Voltage Directive, RoHS, RED and the Cyber Resilience Act simultaneously. There is still only one CE marking, and it means the product complies with all of them. Your single declaration of conformity lists every applicable act.

The practical consequence. Because one mark covers everything, a gap under any one regulation makes the whole marking a misstatement. This is why the requirement-to-evidence index matters — it is how you know nothing was missed.

Before you affix it

  1. Every applicable act identified, and recorded.
  2. Conformity assessment carried out under each.
  3. Technical documentation complete and retained.
  4. Declaration of conformity drawn up and signed.
  5. Instructions and safety information supplied in the required languages.
  6. Notified body number added, if one was involved in production control.

Check which regulations apply to your product →

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