European regulatory requirements

The EU regulates the personal protective equipment by a special directive, 2016/425/EU, commonly known as the PPE Directive (Regulation). The protective clothing products and protective masks used in this COVID-19 epidemic are all Class III PPE products, and they need to be certified by the notified bodies to obtain the corresponding certificates, so as to meet the compliance requirements.

1. Protective clothing products

The levels of protective clothing can be referred to in Figure 1, i.e. levels of chemical protective clothing in Europe.

Figure 1 Levels of chemical protective clothing in Europe

In addition to the chemical protection standards, there are other protection standards as shown in Figure 2 below.

Figure 2 Performance categories of other protective clothing in Europe

2. Protective mask products

European protective masks need to meet the requirements of EN149. According to their filtration efficiency, they are divided into three models: FFP1, FFP2 and FFP3. Generally speaking, masks used in COVID-19 need to meet the requirements of FFP2 at least.