Directive T-PED 2010/35/EU

The 2010/35/EU Directive, also defined as T-PED, which replaced 1999/36/EC, establishes the regulations and methods to be followed for the certification of transportable pressure equipment. The T-PED Directive regulates the design, construction, and evaluation of conformity of the transportable pressure equipment for the purpose of improving their safety and guaranteeing their free circulation within the community market.

Field of application of the T-PED 2010/35/EU Directive

The field of application of the directive includes multiple equipment:

• pressurised vessels, their taps, and accessories;
• tanks (for LPG, for hazardous goods transport);
• battery vehicles, multiple-element containers for gas, their taps, and accessories;
• gas cartridges;
• gas tanks (for LPG, for transportable gas);
• valves for transportable gas tanks.

These types of equipment must bear a special marking, indicated with the symbol π, obligatory for their commissioning and marketing within the European Union.

Transportable pressure equipment are vessels of various natures and shapes destined for the transport of compressed or liquefied gas or gas in solutions that present three characteristics:

• Pressure
• Danger
• Transportability

During the transport of dangerous goods by sea, the packages require marking and labelling, as do the containers holding them and the vehicles that transport them.

Generally speaking, markings, plates, and labels must be applied onto all four sides of the container while, when it comes to vehicles for the transport of packages and cisterns, markings and labels must be positioned on two sides and on the back.

Instead, containers for the transport of bulk goods, container-tanks, portable tanks, tank swap bodies, the MEGC (Multiple Element Gas Container) and tank vehicles, require the application of the PSN (Proper Shipping Name) onto at least the two sides.

If two different ONU numbers should be transported inside the same transport unit, it is necessary to plate it and mark it with all the danger plates and marks required for each individual class, while avoiding duplicates. Instead, in the case of transport of more than 4000 kg of a single ONU number inside the transport unit, it will be necessary to apply a 300×120 mm orange panel with the ONU number of the goods on it.

Conformity test

The requirements of the products being evaluated are defined in reference to Annex I of the Directive 2008/68/EC, also known as the ADR. Indeed, the international transport of hazardous goods by road is regulated on a European level. This Agreement consists of just a few articles, which include two Annexes (Annex A and Annex B), which contain all the regulatory provisions with which the transports in question must comply.

The role of the Notified Body

ECO is a Body Notified by the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport and can carry out Verification of Conformity pursuant to Directive T-PED 2010/35/EU finalised at:

• approval and authorisation to market of newly manufactured transportable pressure equipment
• re-evaluation of the conformity of transportable pressure equipment already on the market that do not bear the conformity mark, but can be re-evaluated in compliance with the T-PED
• conducting periodic inspections to verify that the necessary safety requirements for the reuse of transportable pressure equipment are being maintained.

The issuing of the certificate therefore depends on the completeness and validity of the dossier documented by a verification report and the correspondence of the product/system to the documentation evaluated.

Upon conclusion of the verifications, in case of conformity, pertinent certificates are issued relative to the transportable pressure equipment evaluated; these certificates may apply to the product (type approval) and, if applicable, to the Manufacturer’s Quality System and the Internal Inspection Service.

Thanks to the verification activities carried out by ECO, the Manufacturer attests that the product meets the essential requirements of the applicable Directive and can market it within the European Community.

VERIFICATION OF THE “OLD EQUIPMENT POOL”

Italian Legislative Decree n. 78 of 12 June 2012, for the incorporation and enactment of the Directive 2010/35/EU, otherwise known as T-PED, established the legislative framework for the approval and periodic controls of newly manufactured transportable pressure equipment; however, from the periodic controls for the maintenance of this type of equipment, remain excluded from this application, equipment constructed previously and approved according to the procedures established by the Ministerial Decree dated 12 September 1925 and successive series of integrative regulations concerning the approval of the regulation for the tests and controls of the containers destined for the railway transport of compressed, liquefied, or dissolved gas. The maintenance of this type of equipment remains the responsibility of the INAIL supervisory body.

The Decree dated 18 June 2015 of the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport, with the main purpose of harmonising the activities of the construction, approval and in-service maintenance sector for transportable pressure equipment authorises outsourced Bodies for the evaluation of conformity, periodic controls, intermediate controls, extraordinary controls, and supervision of the internal controls service of this type of equipment, establishes the methods for applying for recognition by the Bodies and for the granting of authorisation.

ECO is a Type A Inspection Body, accredited by Accredia for the evaluation of conformity, periodic inspections, intermediate inspections, extraordinary controls, surveillance of the internal inspection service, re-evaluation of the conformity of equipment subject to Directive 2010/35/EU T-PED Transportable Pressure Equipment.

Equipment subject to testing

The number of equipment subject to the provisions of the Ministerial Decree of 12 September 1925 are decreasing reasonably, due to the progressive decommissioning of containers that are no longer compliant with newer regulations.

However, the recognition and possibility of operating on equipment that are normally identified as “old equipment pool”, actually maintains considerable importance from an operational viewpoint.

ECO Certificazioni normally carries out controls for the maintenance of equipment subject to the T-PED Directive, with activities conducted at auditing centres, that collect containers (in particular tanks for the transport of gas and liquefied gas) from users.

The auditing centres set up containers for the inspections and equip the test requested, which are then carried out by the Notified Body inspector, who is called by the centre itself.

AUTHORIZATION TO CONTROL THE “OLD EQUIPMENT POOL”

ECO obtained the authorisation to carry out the activities connected to the in-service maintenance of “old equipment pool” transportable pressure equipment and to apply its own brand to the equipment controlled.