Hazardous Location Certification: ATEX, UKCA, NEC & IECEx

Hazardous Location Equipment Global Market Access: One Product, Four Regulatory Pillars

2026-06-12 A guest post by Adam Garner, Global Business Director for Hazardous Locations, CSA Group 3 min Reading Time

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Anyone selling equipment, components, and systems for hazardous locations in the global key markets has to deal with four separate regulatory frameworks at once: ATEX, UKCA, the North American certification systems, and the IECEx as an international foundation. The requirements differ in important details and missteps in early planning can quickly cost months of time-to-market. A white paper from CSA Group brings these four regulatory frameworks into a single overview.

Isn't explosion protection always the same? Far from it! Different markets have different regulations.(Source: Stanislav Milata/CSA Group) — Isn't explosion protection always the same? Far from it! Different markets have different regulations.
(Source: Stanislav Milata/CSA Group)

For manufacturers of equipment designed for use in potentially explosive atmospheres—whether involving flammable gases, vapors, or combustible dusts—access to multiple world regions is a competitive necessity. However, achieving this is often a regulatory multi-tasking exercise:

IECEx (The Global Foundation): This internationally accepted system serves as the technical basis for many regional markets. It rests on the IEC 60079 series (electrical) and IEC 80079 series (non-electrical) and is built around two independent reports: the ExTR (Technical Report) and the QAR (Quality Assessment Report).

Europe (ATEX): The ATEX Directive 2014/34/EU is legally mandatory for the EU market. It defines Essential Health and Safety Requirements (EHSR) and relies on harmonized standards, often closely aligned with IEC standards.

United Kingdom (UKCA): Since Brexit, the UKCA mark (specifically UKEx) is required for Great Britain. It is governed by UKSI 2016:1107 and remains largely aligned with ATEX but requires a separate administrative procedure through a UK Approved Body.

North America (NEC/CEC): This region runs the long-established Class/Division system alongside the now well-integrated Zone system. Equipment must comply with both general safety requirements and specific HazLoc standards, backed up by quarterly factory inspections.

Efficiency: Eliminating Duplicate Testing

In day-to-day practice, the order in which certifications are tackled often determines how quickly a product becomes available in target markets. When ATEX, UKCA and North American assessments are run in parallel leveraging the IECEx scheme during initial certification, test reports can be reused across systems — for example, a valid EU-Type Examination Certificate can be used as evidence in the UKCA process. The results: lower testing costs, fewer redundant audits, and a measurably shorter time-to-market.

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