Personal protective equipment: new harmonised standards and a one-year delay because few can perform the SF6 leakage test
Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1971 (OJ of 4 September 2026) adds, among others, EN ISO 374-6:2025 (protective gloves for hairdressers) and EN ISO 24232:2025 (protective clothing against rain) to the list of harmonised standards under Regulation (EU) 2016/425. The withdrawal of the older standards for powered and power-assisted air-purifying respiratory protective devices has been postponed by one year, to 8 October 2027.
- The new editions EN 12941:2023 and EN 12942:2023 require SF6 gas for inward leakage testing, and according to the Commission only a very small number of notified bodies can carry out such tests — which lengthens the handling of manufacturers’ requests to review their EU type-examination certificates.
- EN 12941:1998 (devices with a helmet or hood) and EN 12942:1998 (devices with full face masks, half masks or quarter masks), with their amendments, were due to be withdrawn on 8 October 2026; this will now happen on 8 October 2027. The Commission does not expect the delay to harm the safety level of these products.
- The list gains rows with EN ISO 16321-1:2022 together with amendment A1:2025 and EN ISO 16321-3:2022 together with amendment A1:2026 (eye and face protection for occupational use). The rows with EN 343:2019 (succeeded by EN ISO 24232:2025) and with the unamended EN ISO 16321-1:2022 and EN ISO 16321-3:2022 are deleted — recital 12 announces a deferred withdrawal, but Annex II of the decision gives no date for them — and the rows with EN 144-1, EN 144-2, EN 144-3 and EN 148-1 are deleted as outdated.
- The decision amends Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1279, which lists the harmonised standards for personal protective equipment, and entered into force on the day of its publication.
Source: Dziennik Urzędowy Unii Europejskiej — decyzja wykonawcza Komisji (UE) 2026/1971