Compliance & Protection: CE Marking, Patents, and Copyright for Engineers

Introduction

Getting a product “working” is only half the job, getting it legally market-ready and properly protected is the other half. This guide walks engineers through the essentials of regulatory compliance (including CE marking) and the core IP tools, patents and copyright, so you can reduce risk, avoid rework, and ship with confidence.

Regulations

Regulations differ from Standards in that they are enforceable by law. When you work in any field of engineering, you should be aware what regulations cover that area, as failing to adhere to any relevant regulations would be breaking the law.

Some of the most common Regulations that you will come across as an engineer are shown below, with a brief summary. You should click each link to read more about them:

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999

The main employer duties under these regulations include:

• making ‘assessments of risk’ to the health and safety of its workforce, and to act upon risks they identify, so as to reduce them
• appointing competent persons to oversee workplace health and safety;
• providing workers with information and training on occupational health and safety; and
• operating a written health and safety policy

 The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992

The main provisions of these Regulations require employers to provide:

• Adequate lighting, heating, ventilation and workspace (and keep them in a clean condition);
• Staff facilities, including toilets, washing facilities and refreshment; and
• Safe passageways, i.e. to prevent slipping and tripping hazards

The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992

The main provisions require employers to:

• Ensure that suitable personal protective equipment (PPE) is provided free of charge “wherever there are risks to health and safety that cannot be adequately controlled in other ways.” 
• Provide information, training and instruction on the use of this equipment.

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992

The main provisions of these Regulations require employers to:

• Avoid (so far as is reasonably practicable) the need for employees to undertake any manual handling activities involving risk of injury;
• Make assessments of manual handling risks, and try to reduce the risk of injury. The assessment should consider the task, the load and the individual’s personal characteristics (physical strength, etc.); and
• Provide workers with information on the weight of each load.

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998(PUWER)

The main provisions require employers to:

• Ensure the safety and suitability of work equipment for the purpose for which it is provided;
• Properly maintain the equipment, irrespective of how old it is;
• Provide information, instruction and training on the use of equipment; and
• Protect employees from dangerous parts of machinery.

The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992

Employers are required to:

make a risk assessment of workstation use by Display Screen Equipment (DSE) users, and reduce the risks identified;

• ensure DSE users take ‘adequate breaks’;
• provide regular eyesight tests;
• provide health and safety information;
• provide adjustable furniture (e.g. desk, chair, etc.); and
• demonstrate that they have adequate procedures designed to reduce risks associated with DSE work, such as repetitive strain injury (RSI).

CE Marking

CE marking is a certification mark that indicates conformity with health, safety, and environmental protection standards for products sold within the European Economic Area (EEA).

The CE marking is also found on products sold outside the EEA that have been manufactured to EEA standards. This makes the CE marking recognizable worldwide even to people who are not familiar with the European Economic Area.

The CE marking is the manufacturer’s declaration that the product meets EU standards for health, safety, and environmental protection.

The CE marking is required for many products. It:

• shows that the manufacturer has checked that these products meet EU safety, health or environmental requirements
• is an indicator of a product’s compliance with EU legislation
• allows the free movement of products within the European market

Patents

As a design engineer, the nature of your work means you may be innovating new ideas or products. As such, it’s important that you know how to protect your work. This is where Patents can be used.

Let’s imagine you create a new invention, and you start to manufacture it and enter the market. You run the risk of spending the money to start production, only to find your competition has copied your invention! 

Instead, if you apply and achieve a patent against your product then you have protection in law against somebody copying your idea (within the scope of the patent). This means your competition cannot make, sell, or import any products that fall within the scope of your patent.

One very important point to remember – you need to apply for the patent, before it enters the public domain. In simple words, you need to keep your invention secret until after you have applied for the patent. By public domain that means “available to the public”, so it is perfectly acceptable to discuss ideas within your organisation, or between a small team of engineers working on the product. However, if your idea is shared on the internet, enters the marketplace, or is generally considered to be available to the public, then you can no longer apply for a patent. So be very careful with who, and how, you share information on a new invention before your patent application is completed.

As per the UK government guidelines, in order to achieve a patent, an invention must achieve all of the below requirements. It must be:

• Something that can be made or used
• new
• inventive (i.e. not just a simple modification to something that already exists)

However, not all things can be patented, even if they achieve the points above. Some things are specifically excluded from patent protection.  Below is a list of things that cannot be patented for example (as per UK government guidelines):

• Literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works
• A way of doing business, playing a game or thinking
• A method of medical treatment or diagnosis
• A discovery, scientific theory or mathematical method
• The way information is presented
• Some computer programs or mobile apps
• ‘Essentially biological’ processes like crossing-breeding plants, and plant or animal varieties

Although the above can not be protected by patent, there are still other means to protect your work, such as Copyright.

As an engineer, it is important that you are aware of patents, both as a way of protecting your work, but also to avoid legal conflicts should you work overlap with that of somebody else.

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