Lifts must meet a number of technical requirements in order to ensure the safety of users and third parties (fitters, maintenance staff, inspectors or controllers).Installers may only install lifts that meet the technical requirements and manufacturers, importers (and distributors) of safety components for lifts may only place conforming items on the market (and distribute them).
The owner or manager of the lift must also manage the lift in such a way as to provide a safe service; these obligations are set out in the Royal Decree of 9 March 2003 on lift safety.
Regulations
The general safety regulations for lifts are prescribed in the Code of Economic Law, Book IX on the safety of products and services.
The Royal Decree of 12 April 2016 on placing lifts and safety components for lifts on the market complements the requirements of the general law. This law is the transposition of Directive 2014/33/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the harmonisation of Member States’ legislation on lifts and safety components for lifts.
This Royal Decree applies to lifts installed in buildings and constructions and that are intended to be used to transport:
- Persons;
- Persons and objects;
- Objects only if the carrier is accessible, i.e. a person can access it without problems, and if it is fitted with operating equipment inside the carrier or within the reach of a person in the carrier.
This Decree also applies to safety components for lifts included in Appendix III that are used in the aforementioned lifts.
These regulation do not apply to:
- Hoisting and lifting equipment with a maximum speed of 0.15 m/s;
- Construction lifts;
- Cable installations, including cable railways;
- Lifts that are specifically designed and built for military or police purposes;
- Hoisting and lifting devices from which tasks can be carried out;
- Mining lifts;
- Hoisting and lifting devices for lifting artists during performances;
- Hoisting and lifting devices that are built into means of transport;
- Hoisting and lifting devices that are linked to a machine and exclusively intended to be used to facilitate access to the workplace, including maintenance and inspections points on the machine;
- Rack railways;
- Escalators and moving walkways.
Obligations for economic operators
Besides the obligations for lift installers and manufacturers of lift safety components, importers and distributors also have their own obligations.
From now on, importers may only place compliant safety components on the market and must therefore ensure that the manufacturer has carried out the appropriate conformity assessment procedure, drawn up the relevant technical documentation, that the safety components bear the CE marking, and that they are accompanied by the EU declaration of conformity and the relevant documents,...
Distributors must check that the safety components for lifts bear the CE marking and are accompanied by an EU declaration of conformity, the appropriate documentation and instructions and that the importer and the manufacturer have met their respective requirements.
Lifts that were introduced onto the market before 20 April 2016
The Royal Decree of 10 August 1998 on placing lifts on the market has been abolished. Lifts and safety components for lifts that fall under the aforementioned, abolished Royal Decree of 10 August 1998 and which have been placed on the market in accordance with this Decree and were placed on the market before 10 April 2016 (i.e. supplied with an EU declaration of conformity) can continue to be operated and/or offered on the market. The certificates and decisions issued by the notified bodies in accordance with the aforementioned Royal Decree of 10 August 1998 are valid under this Decree.
The details of the obligations and procedures can be found in the Royal Decree of 12 April 2016 on placing lifts and safety components for lifts on the market.
Consult the list of certified lift-maintenance companies (PDF, 391.9 KB)
