The Order of Council 563/2010, from May 7, which approves the new Regulations for pyrotechnic devices and cartridges, was recently published. It regulates the manufacture and transport of pyrotechnic articles in accordance with new developments in the sector and in this area substitutes the present Explosives Regulations, approved by the Order of Council 230/1998, from February 16, modified in the Act PRE/174/2007. Among other aspects, The Council of Order 563/2010 includes the Directive 2007/23/CE, which makes it compulsory for pyrotechnic articles to carry the CE marking in order to trade in the community market.

This means that from July 4, 2010, class 1, 2 or 3 pyrotechnic articles; or from July 4, 2013, class 4, T1, T2, P1 and P2 pyrotechnic articles that are not classified according to the Complementary Technical Proceedings ITC08 of the Explosives Regulations, must be labeled with the CE mark in order to trade in Spain. These classifications will be valid until their expiry date or July 4, 2017, whichever is the shortest period of time. At the end of the expiry date it will be compulsory to use the CE Mark in order to trade.

The same conditions are applied to trading pyrotechnic articles in any European Member States. An article can be freely sold if it has the CE Mark, from July 4, 2010 for classes 1, 2, 3, 4, T1, T2, P1 and P2. Compliance with national legislation will be accepted as an alternative to the CE Mark until the expiry date, or until July 4, 2017, whichever period of time is the shortest.

For workshops that manufacture products for their own use, and therefore are exempt from using the CE Mark, the Complementary Technical Records ET 4.01 from Act 563/2010, states that from May 9, 2010, the owner of the workshop must have a factory audit certificate granted by an Authorised Control Body that certifies the use of a quality system for the manufacture of pyrotechnic articles.

In order to meet the needs of the sector, AIDICO has been authorized by the Department for Energy policies and Mining to:

• Assess compliance of regulatory requirements foreseen in Act PRE/174/2007, Complementary Technical Proceedings 8, Technical Specifications 8.06, for controlling the manufacture of pyrotechnic devices (classification).
• To act in the area regulating pyrotechnic articles and cartridges, Council of Order 563/2010 ITC4, ET 4.01, minimum criteria for quality management and assessment for controlling the manufacture of pyrotechnic devices in workshops that solely manufacture articles for their own use).

AIDICO is also in the notification process as an organisation for carrying out tasks related to EC Marking for pyrotechnic articles. This is a consequence of Directive 2007/23/CE coming into effect on the trading of pyrotechnic articles and the new Regulations for pyrotechnic articles and cartridges (RD 563/2010).
Likewise, in order to guarantee Independence and impartiality in work carried out, AIDICO is accredited by ENAC (OC-C/196) for Certifying Pyrotechnic Articles.