A notified body for elevators is an organisation designated by an EU member state, listed in the Commission’s NANDO register and empowered to run the checks Directive 2014/33/EU requires: examining a type, inspecting a lift about to be placed on the market, or auditing a quality system. BST Express Elevator prepares the technical file for every export project.
The document most buyers are shown at quotation stage is not a certificate in the sense the Directive uses. A supplier’s CE file normally contains two different things: certificates issued by a notified body for elevators for the safety components and for the lift type, and a written EU declaration of conformity that the installer draws up and signs. Telling those apart decides whether a project can be released into the EU market at all, and it is the single point where importers lose money most often.
The Lifts Directive does not offer a self-declaration route. There is no equivalent of the internal production control that most machinery uses, because a lift is assembled on site, cannot be tested as a finished article at the works, and carries passengers who have no way to assess its safety. Every lift and every safety component has to pass through a body that a member state has notified for this specific directive, for the specific procedure, and for the product range concerned.
- What a notified body for elevators is — and what it is not
- Where a notified body for elevators appears in one lift project
- The six routes a lift can take
- Six safety components that need their own certificate
- What the on-site final inspection actually tests
- Verifying a notified body for elevators: seven mistakes to avoid
- How to verify a notified body for elevators certificate in ten minutes
- Documents the installer must keep for ten years
- What changes in the United Kingdom
- Questions buyers ask about a notified body for elevators
What a Notified Body for Elevators Is — and What It Is Not
A notified body for elevators is a legal entity that a member state has assessed, designated and then formally told the European Commission about. The Commission allocates a four-digit identification number — 0096, 0396, 0036 and so on — and publishes the entry in NANDO, the New Approach Notified and Designated Organisations register. That number is the only part of the arrangement that is globally checkable, and it is the part buyers ignore most often.
A notified body for elevators is not a consultancy, not a trade association, and not an inspection company that happens to hold a quality certificate of its own. It is also not the same legal entity as its parent group. Large certification groups notify subsidiaries separately, and NANDO records them separately. A certificate issued by a branch office of a notified body is a different legal act from a certificate issued by the notified entity itself, and importers have run into exactly that distinction when a certificate could not be traced in the register.
The scope of a notification is deliberately narrow, and the Directive lists the routes a lift may take. Checking that a body is notified is therefore only the first step. A body notified for lifts under 2014/33/EU may still not be notified for the specific procedure the supplier intends to use, and a body notified under the Machinery Directive has nothing to do with a lift at all. Both facts are visible in NANDO, and both are the reason a certificate can look genuine and still be unusable.
The distinction matters commercially. An importer who places a lift on the EU market relying on a certificate from a body that was never notified, or whose notification does not cover the act cited, has placed a non-compliant product on the market. That is a market surveillance matter, not a paperwork slip, and it is discovered years later when an incident, a tender or an audit pulls the file. The full legal text sits in Directive 2014/33/EU, which has applied since 20 April 2016 and replaced Directive 95/16/EC.
Where a Notified Body for Elevators Appears in One Lift Project
A single lift project normally uses a notified body for elevators twice, in two different places, under two different procedures. The first is at component level, before anything is shipped. The second is at the end of installation, on the finished lift. Neither one substitutes for the other, and a file that contains only one of them is incomplete.
At component level, a notified body for elevators examines each safety component built into the lift against the Directive, and each component carries its own EU-type examination certificate. Those certificates are issued to the component manufacturer, not to the lift supplier, and they travel with the goods. The technical documentation for the lift model has to include a copy of the EU declaration of conformity for each of those components — that is an explicit requirement of the type examination route, not a courtesy document.
At lift level, a notified body for elevators either examines a type or verifies a single unit, and then the lift itself is checked at the point of placing on the market. The second step is what most buyers have never seen: it happens on site, after installation, in front of the finished machine, and it ends with a certificate that names the tests carried out. A project can therefore hold a perfectly valid type certificate and still not be released, because the on-site step has not been done.
The commercial consequence is simple. A quotation that says “CE certified” without stating which route is being followed, which documents will be issued, and who will be named as the installer answers none of the questions the Directive asks. BST Express Elevator states the route on the data sheet of every lift project, because the route decides the documentation pack that has to be prepared in Suzhou before shipment. The route is also the part that changes between destinations, which is the regional difference that catches buyers out when a project spans more than one country.
The Six Routes a Lift Can Take
Directive 2014/33/EU sets out a limited menu. The installer or manufacturer chooses one route, and the choice determines how much work a notified body for elevators does and at which stage. The table below lists the six routes available for a lift, with the annex that defines each one.
| Route | Annex in 2014/33/EU | What the notified body does | When it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Module B — EU-type examination | Annex IV, Part B for lifts | Examines the technical documentation and a specimen to confirm the design meets the essential health and safety requirements | A model lift that will be repeated across projects |
| Final inspection | Annex V | Inspects the lift about to be placed on the market, runs the tests, signs the logbook and issues a final inspection certificate | The normal companion to an EU-type examination certificate |
| Module E — product quality assurance | Annex X | Approves and monitors the product quality system of the installer | An installer with a stable, auditable system |
| Module D — production quality assurance | Annex XII | Approves and monitors the quality system covering production, installation and service | Programmes with many variants and repeated installations |
| Module G — unit verification | Annex VIII | Verifies a single lift directly, with no type certificate in the background | One-off, heavily customised or heritage installations |
| Module H1 — full quality assurance with design examination | Annex XI | Approves the complete quality system and examines the design where it departs from harmonised standards | Suppliers running design, production, installation and service under one system |
Two of these deserve a note. Module G is the route for a lift that is not a repetition of anything: the notified body verifies that unit, and there is no type certificate behind it. Module H1 moves the weight of the assessment from a specimen to a system, which is why it is only realistic for organisations that already run a documented quality system across design, manufacturing, installation and service.
Compliance with the harmonised standards listed under the Directive creates a presumption of conformity, which is why the standards matter as much as the module. The current references are EN 81-20:2020 and EN 81-50:2020, published in the Official Journal on 27 January 2021, with the 2014 editions kept usable only until 27 July 2022. A certificate that still cites the 2014 editions is describing a standard that has left its transition period. Publication is not citation, and why a published successor is not yet the cited standard decides which edition a final inspection is measured against. The current list and the directive overview are maintained on the Commission’s lifts page under the single market programme for mechanical engineering.
Six Safety Components That Need Their Own Certificate
The Directive does not leave the definition of a safety component to the market. Annex III names six families, and every product inside those families has to hold its own EU-type examination certificate from a notified body for elevators before it can be built into a lift that will be CE marked.
| # | Safety component family (Annex III) | What it protects against |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Devices for locking landing doors | Doors opening while the car is not at the landing |
| 2 | Devices to prevent falls | The car falling or moving uncontrolled |
| 3 | Overspeed limitation devices | Speed exceeding the designed limit |
| 4 | Buffers — energy-accumulating (non-linear, or with damping of the return movement) and energy-dissipating | Impact energy at the travel limits |
| 5 | Safety devices fitted to jacks of hydraulic power circuits used to prevent falls | Uncontrolled descent on hydraulic lifts |
| 6 | Electric safety devices in the form of safety circuits containing electronic components | Failure of the electrical safety chain |
Item 6 is the one that catches importers out. A programmable safety circuit is not evaluated as ordinary control equipment; it is a safety component in its own right, and the certificate has to come with it. The same logic applies to item 4, where a buffer bought from a third party still has to arrive with its own certificate even though the lift supplier never designed it.
For each of these components, the technical documentation submitted with the lift has to include the EU declaration of conformity. In practice this means the file prepared at the works contains six component declarations plus the lift documentation, and a missing one is not filled in later at the port. Buyers who ask for the component certificates as a numbered list — one line per Annex III family — find the gap in minutes rather than weeks.
What the On-Site Final Inspection Actually Tests
Final inspection under Annex V is the step where a notified body for elevators turns a type approval into a marketable lift. The notified body chosen by the installer inspects the lift that is about to be placed on the market and checks it against the essential health and safety requirements, using the examination and test schedule of the applicable harmonised standard.
The paperwork side is short, because a notified body for elevators works from documents the installer already has. The installer lodges the application with a single notified body and supplies the plan of the complete lift, the drawings needed for the inspection including the control circuit diagrams, a copy of the instructions, and a written declaration that the same application has not been lodged with another notified body. The body is not entitled to demand detailed plans or information beyond what the conformity check requires.
The practical side is where the time goes. The tests required by Annex V include operation of the lift empty and at maximum load to confirm that the safety devices — end stops, locking devices and the rest — are installed and working; operation at maximum load and empty to confirm the safety devices act correctly if power is lost; and a static test with a load equal to 1.25 times the rated load. After those tests the notified body for elevators checks that no distortion or deterioration has occurred that could impair use of the lift.
That 1.25 figure is worth remembering, because it is fixed by the Directive rather than negotiated with the notified body for elevators. A 1,000 kg rated passenger lift is statically loaded at 1,250 kg on site, and the rated load referred to here is the one defined in Annex I of the Directive, not a figure chosen on the quotation. BST Express Elevator prepares the load schedule for that test as part of the installation documentation, so the weights and the rated load are consistent from the data sheet to the site.
When the lift passes, the notified body for elevators fills in the corresponding pages of the logbook and issues a final inspection certificate that names the examinations and tests carried out. It also affixes, or has affixed, its identification number next to the CE marking in the car of each lift. If the body refuses to issue the certificate, it has to state the detailed reasons and indicate the corrective measures; the installer then applies again to the same body rather than shopping for a different one.
Verifying a Notified Body for Elevators: Seven Mistakes to Avoid
Most failures in a notified body for elevators file are not fabrications. They are genuine documents used for the wrong purpose, and they are avoidable with about an hour of checking.
- Treating a component certificate as a lift certificate. A Module B certificate for a safety component proves that component was type examined by a notified body for elevators. It says nothing about the lift, and the lift still needs its own route plus the on-site step.
- Checking the body’s own website instead of the register. A polished certificate page is not evidence of notification. The four-digit number has to resolve in NANDO, and the entry has to show the directive being used.
- Ignoring which directive the body is notified under. A notified body for elevators is defined by its notification: a body notified for machinery, pressure equipment or medical devices is not automatically notified for 2014/33/EU, and the certificate it issued for a lift is then worth nothing.
- Ignoring the procedure in the notification. A body can be notified for lifts and still not cover the procedure on the certificate, or cover only part of the product range.
- Accepting a certificate that cites a superseded standard edition. A notified body for elevators must cite the current edition: the 2014 editions of EN 81-20 and EN 81-50 left their transition period on 27 July 2022; the current references are the 2020 editions.
- Never asking for the declaration of conformity and the final inspection certificate. The installer must draw these up, and a notified body for elevators issues the inspection certificate, so both documents have to be kept available for ten years after the lift is placed on the market.
- Believing a UKCA mark is required for Great Britain. CE marking backed by a notified body for elevators certificate is recognised in Great Britain indefinitely for the regulations covering lifts, and UKCA remains an alternative rather than a condition of entry.
None of these mistakes requires legal advice to avoid. What they require is a numbered document list in the purchase order and a ten-minute check of the register, both of which are under the buyer’s control rather than the supplier’s.
How to Verify a Notified Body for Elevators Certificate in Ten Minutes
The way to verify a notified body for elevators is published, free and does not require an account. It works on a certificate that is already in hand, which is the situation most buyers are actually in.
- Read the four digits. They appear on the certificate itself, and on the lift they appear next to the CE marking in the car.
- Look the number up in NANDO. The register entry for a notified body for elevators gives the legal name, its member state and its status. Designations can be new, amended, suspended or withdrawn, so the status today is what counts.
- Confirm the legislation. The entry has to show the Lifts Directive, and not only the general product legislation the group is known for.
- Confirm the procedure. Check that the notified body for elevators may perform the module printed on the certificate.
- Confirm the product scope. A notification can be limited to certain families or standards, and the lift being supplied has to fall inside it.
- Ask the body directly if anything is unclear. A short email asking a notified body for elevators to confirm the authenticity of a certificate bearing its number is the cheapest due diligence in the whole transaction.
- Look at the car. If the lift has already been installed, the identification number next to the CE marking tells the buyer which body carried out the final inspection.
The register itself is the European Commission’s NANDO database, which now sits inside the Commission’s single market compliance space. It is worth a buyer’s time to open it once before a tender closes, because the number of a notified body for elevators that does not resolve ends the discussion immediately. For the wider family of documents an importer is asked to hold, elevator CE certification sets out the complete pack, and EC-type examination for elevators covers the type examination step in detail.
Documents the Installer Must Keep for Ten Years
The obligations in the Directive fall on the installer, which is the party that places the lift on the market. That role is defined by the Directive rather than by the supply contract, and it is often the reason a European installation partner has to be named in the project at an early stage.
The installer draws up a written EU declaration of conformity for each lift and keeps a copy of that declaration together with the final inspection certificate available to the national authorities for ten years after the lift is placed on the market. Copies have to be produced on request, and the Commission and the member states can obtain a copy of the final inspection certificate. Where a lift is supplied complete and installed by the same organisation, the same party holds the role and the file stays in one place.
The technical documentation sits behind what a notified body for elevators reviews. It has to make it possible to assess whether the lift meets the essential health and safety requirements, and for a model lift it has to describe clearly all the permitted variations of that model. This is the file that decides whether a variation requested on site is covered by the existing type examination or needs a new assessment, and it is the file buyers should ask to see when a supplier offers flexibility late in the project.
For a buyer, the notified body for elevators test is a short one. Ask which route applies, ask for the component declarations by Annex III family, ask who will be named as the installer, and ask for the final inspection certificate at handover. A supplier who can answer all four without going away to check is working from a controlled file. Where the pack has to be assembled across several suppliers, the guide to buying elevators from China sets out the sequence, and the export team can be reached through the contact page to confirm the route for a specific project.
What Changes in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom is the point where more buyers lose confidence than anywhere else in the file, usually because they have been told something about a notified body for elevators that stopped being true in 2024. CE marking is recognised in Great Britain indefinitely for the product regulations that cover lifts, and UKCA marking is an option rather than a requirement for those products.
The position differs by territory. In Great Britain — England, Scotland and Wales — a lift that lawfully carries CE marking can be placed on the market without any UKCA marking, and both marks can be used. In Northern Ireland, EU rules continue to apply, so CE marking is what applies, in combination with the UK(NI) indication where relevant. In the European Union, only CE marking is valid; UKCA is not recognised there at all.
The practical consequence is that a project destined for Great Britain does not need a second notified body for elevators assessment, and a supplier quoting a separate UKCA route as a mandatory extra is describing a commercial choice as a legal one. Buyers who want the underlying text can check the UK government’s own guidance on using the UKCA marking alongside the sector overview published by the Department for Business and Trade.
Questions Buyers Ask About a Notified Body for Elevators
Does every lift sold in the European Union need a notified body for elevators?
Yes. A notified body for elevators is mandatory here: Directive 2014/33/EU provides no self-declaration route for lifts or for the safety components listed in Annex III, so every lift placed on the market has to pass through a notified body at least once. The only variable is which procedure is used and at what stage the body is involved.
Is an EU-type examination certificate enough to sell a lift?
No. An EU-type examination certificate confirms the design. The lift that is actually installed still has to pass the final inspection under Annex V, or be covered by one of the quality assurance routes, before it can be placed on the market with the CE marking.
How do I check the four-digit number of a notified body for elevators?
Search the number of the notified body for elevators in the European Commission’s NANDO register and read the entry: legal name, member state, status, the legislation it is notified under, the procedures it may perform and the product scope. A number that does not resolve, or resolves to a suspended body, ends the verification there.
What load is used in the static test during final inspection?
Annex V requires a static test with a load equal to 1.25 times the rated load, after the lift has been run empty and at maximum load to confirm the safety devices operate. The rated load is the one defined in Annex I of the Directive, so the site test weight follows the data sheet rather than a locally agreed figure.
Who signs the EU declaration of conformity for a lift?
The installer draws up the written EU declaration of conformity for each lift, and may delegate the lodging of the application and certain declarations to an authorised representative acting under a mandate. The installer also keeps the declaration and the final inspection certificate available for ten years.
Are EN 81-20:2014 and EN 81-50:2014 still valid references?
No. The 2020 editions of EN 81-20 and EN 81-50 were published in the Official Journal on 27 January 2021, and the 2014 editions were usable only until 27 July 2022. A certificate or technical file that still refers to the 2014 editions is citing standards that have left their transition period.
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