CE marking is a self-declaration by the manufacturer that the machine meets the applicable European directives. It is not issued by a government body, and it is not a quality certificate. What it should come with is a technical file, a declaration of conformity and a marking plate that matches the machine.
The documents that should be in the crate
A declaration of conformity naming the manufacturer, the machine model and serial number, the directives applied and the standards used. An operator manual in the language of the destination country. A marking plate with the manufacturer's name, model, serial number, year of construction, weight and power rating.
- Declaration of conformity, signed and dated, matching the serial number on the plate.
- Operator manual in the destination language, with a maintenance schedule.
- Marking plate legible after painting, not a sticker over a weld.
- Noise and vibration data where the directive requires it.
What CE does not cover
CE marking covers the machine as a piece of machinery. It does not certify the spray pattern, the chemical compatibility of the tank material, or the accuracy of the pressure gauge. Those are separate claims, and a supplier who confuses them is usually a supplier who has not read the directive.
For sprayers specifically, the guards around the PTO shaft, the fan and the pump drive are the parts inspectors look at first. A machine that arrives with the PTO guard removed to save space in the container is not compliant, even if the certificate is in the crate.
Ask for the declaration, not the sticker. One is a document, the other is a print run.
Before the container is sealed
Photograph the marking plate, the PTO guard and the control labels. If a question comes up at customs or at the dealer's workshop six months later, those three photos answer most of it.
Questions worth asking a supplier
Ask which directives the declaration references and which harmonised standards were applied. Ask whether the technical file is held by the manufacturer or by a trading company. Ask for the marking plate photo of a machine already shipped, not a sample image. A supplier who answers all three without hesitating is usually building the machine they describe.
For a dealer, keep a copy of the declaration for every serial number sold. It is the document a customer will ask for at resale, and it is much easier to file at delivery than to reconstruct three years later.
Keep the declaration, the manual and the marking plate photo in one folder per machine. When a customer asks for compliance documents three years later, the folder answers in a minute what an email chain cannot answer in a week. For dealers, keep one compliance folder per model year rather than per machine. The declaration usually covers a serial range, and one folder answers questions for a whole batch.
Every machine we export ships with a declaration of conformity, a bilingual manual and a photographed marking plate. Ask for the compliance pack with your quotation.
