Regulation (EU) 2016/425 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on personal protective equipment and repealing Council Directive 89/686/EEC.

In accordance with European Union law, EP and EU Council Regulation 2016/425, as well as national legislation on Health and Safety at Work and the Labour Code, it is the duty of every employer to provide employees with personal protective equipment (PPE) that is suitably adapted to protect them from the hazards present in the respective workplaces.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) means:

-means designed and manufactured to be worn or held by a person for the purpose of protecting against one or more risks to that person's health or safety.

- interchangeable components of measures that are essential to their protective function;

- connection systems for means which are worn or held by a person, are designed to connect these means to an external device or to a stable anchorage point, are not intended to be permanently fixed and do not require assembly work prior to use.

Manufacturers of PPE, before placing it on the market, must demonstrate, as a result of a conformity assessment, that it complies with the essential health and safety requirements set out in Regulation 2016/425. One way of demonstrating that PPE complies with the essential requirements is to prove that it meets the requirements of a standard harmonised with the aforementioned Regulation. Confirmation that the PPE meets the essential requirements is provided by the manufacturer/importer marking it with the CE mark and issuing a declaration of conformity.