Check Your Spec Sheets Against CE, REACH, RoHS, ATEX, and IP Requirements

CE marking is the gateway to the European Economic Area. Your technical documentation needs to declare conformity, reference the applied harmonised standards (EN/IEC), and in many product categories, identify the notified body involved in the conformity assessment procedure.

SpecMake checks whether your spec sheet mentions a CE declaration, references harmonised standards, and includes a notified body number where applicable. Missing any of these in your product documentation means your file is incomplete before it even reaches a regulatory reviewer.

Under REACH (EC 1907/2006), articles containing Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs) above 0.1% weight-by-weight must declare this to downstream users. The candidate list grows with every update — keeping spec sheet documentation current is an ongoing obligation, not a one-time checkbox.

SpecMake checks whether your document references REACH compliance and includes an SVHC declaration. If your spec sheet doesn't mention SVHCs at all, that's a documentation gap that needs closing before you can claim compliance to a customer or supply chain partner.

RoHS (2011/65/EU) restricts hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. Lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, PBBs, and PBDEs must be below defined thresholds. For products in the electrical, electronics, robotics, or instrumentation domains, SpecMake checks both the declaration and, where values are specified, whether they fall within the allowed limits.

Threshold checks are automatic. If your spec sheet declares lead content at 0.15% and the RoHS limit is 0.1%, SpecMake flags the violation with the exact value and limit. This catches documentation errors where a product IS compliant but the spec sheet states the wrong number.

Products intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres must carry ATEX marking (2014/34/EU), declare the applicable zone classification, and specify the temperature class. Missing any of these on a spec sheet for a hydraulic valve, pressure sensor, or electrical component destined for Zone 1 or Zone 2 installations is a serious documentation gap.

SpecMake applies ATEX checks to documents detected in the hydraulics, electrical, chemical processing, and instrumentation domains. If your product operates in explosive atmospheres and the spec sheet doesn't mention Ex marking or zone classification, you'll know immediately.

IEC 60529 ingress protection ratings (IP20, IP54, IP65, IP67, IP68) are among the most commonly referenced specifications on industrial product documentation. For electrical, electronic, HVAC, and instrumentation products, the IP rating and operating temperature range should always be declared.

SpecMake checks for the presence of both the IP code and the operating temperature range. A product rated IP65 at 25°C may not maintain that rating at -40°C — the temperature context matters, and both should be in the documentation.

The General Product Safety Regulation (EU 2023/988) replaced the old Product Safety Directive and applies since 13 December 2024. Article 9 requires manufacturer identification, a postal and electronic contact address, and a traceability identifier — type, batch, or serial number — on product documentation.

This check runs on every spec sheet regardless of industry. SpecMake verifies that the manufacturer is identified with contact details, that the product carries a traceability identifier, and that material and weight are declared — the baseline any downstream customer, distributor, or market surveillance authority expects to find. For the full picture of what the Regulation requires, see our guide to the GPSR's technical documentation and traceability requirements.

Regulations move: GPSR replaced the Product Safety Directive, the REACH candidate list grows with every update, and DPP delegated acts are arriving category by category. A compliance check pinned to last year's rules is worse than no check at all, because it tells you you're fine when you may not be.

Every SpecMake rule set carries a version. Each regulation we check is re-verified monthly against official sources — EUR-Lex and official EU publications — and when the real-world rule has moved, the rule set is updated and re-versioned. Every rule change is reviewed by a person before it ships — AI does the monitoring, humans own the rules.

When a rule set changes, your catalog is re-scored against the new version automatically — no re-uploads, and re-checks never count against your plan. Products whose compliance verdict changed are flagged in your catalog compliance view and in an alert that names the affected product, the regulation, and the missing information, so your quality team works a prioritized list instead of re-auditing the whole catalog by hand.

SpecMake checks whether your spec sheet mentions the required regulatory information — not whether the product itself meets the underlying requirements. A passing compliance score means your documentation is complete. It does not mean your product is certified.

Think of it as a pre-submission checklist. Before you send your spec sheet to a customer, enter data into a DPP registry, or submit for third-party review, SpecMake tells you whether the documentation covers the basics. The actual compliance assessment remains the responsibility of your engineering, quality, and regulatory teams.