Finding a notified body

At a glance

There are three kinds of third party under the PED, not one: the notified body, the recognised third-party organisation and the user inspectorate. Each may do something different.
Being notified for the PED says nothing about usefulness. A body is notified per module and per kind of equipment, so check the scope, not the existence of the number.
A legal entity has one identification number, even where it is notified under several Union acts. That is the literal wording of Article 30(1). Do not look for a second number.
The choice is free: you may pick any body in the Union notified for your procedure, including one in another country. That is not a favour but the starting point of the Blue Guide.

What you will find on this page

Three kinds of third party — and what each of the three may do
Do I need one, and for what — per module and per category
The method — how to check a notification yourself, step by step
What the database does not say — and why that catches people out
Choosing — free choice, and what you may expect
If your body stops — suspension, withdrawal and your certificate
The Netherlands — two designations that are constantly confused
Five misconceptions — with the provision that refutes each

Three kinds of third party, not one

People who say “notified body” often mean something else. The directive knows three figures, all three notified to the Commission, and each may do something different. Do not mix them up: the difference decides whether a CE marking may go on your equipment at all.

Figure	What it does	Limits
Notified body	the modules of Annex III, the European approval for materials and the approvals under Annex I, 3.1.2	only within the scope of its own notification; receives one identification number (Article 30(1))
Recognised third-party organisation	only the approvals under Annex I, 3.1.2 and 3.1.3 — procedures for permanent joining, and personnel	does no module of Annex III; it does not appear anywhere in Annex III. The list states its tasks, not a number (Article 31)
User inspectorate	modules A2, C2, F and G, and nothing else (Article 16(5))	works solely for the group it belongs to (paragraph 4), only for that group's establishments (paragraph 3), and only the Member State that allows it lets such equipment be placed on its market and put into service on its territory (paragraph 1) — and the equipment may not bear the CE marking (paragraph 2)

For two of the three the requirements sit in the same article. There is no article dealing with the recognised third-party organisation on its own. Article 24 is headed “Requirements relating to notified bodies and recognised third-party organisations” and applies to both; Article 25 does the same for user inspectorates. Anyone quoting an article number that covers only the recognised organisation is probably citing the old Directive 97/23/EC, where the numbering was different.

References: Article 16(1) to (7) (user inspectorate, with paragraph 2 on the CE marking and paragraph 5 on the four modules); Article 24 (requirements, including (3) and (4) independence, (6) and (7) competence and personnel, (9) liability insurance, (10) professional secrecy); Article 25 (requirements for user inspectorates); Articles 30 and 31 (numbers and lists); Annex I, 3.1.2 and 3.1.3; Annex III. Checked 12-09-2026.

Do I need one, and for what?

Of the twelve modules in Annex III there is exactly one in which the words notified body do not occur: module A, internal production control. All eleven others name one. That is the shortest summary of the whole subject: if you come out in category I and choose module A, you need to call nobody — with one exception below. As soon as you are in category II or above, a body is involved, and the question becomes which task it performs.

That exception sits in Annex I. The approval of the procedures for permanent joining and of the personnel who join is mandatory for categories II, III and IV, and the manufacturer may choose between a notified body and a recognised third-party organisation (3.1.2). For the personnel carrying out non-destructive testing, approval is mandatory from category III (3.1.3). Note that the two points do not share a threshold: 3.1.2 starts at category II, 3.1.3 at category III.

A difference in the text you should know before you call. Point 3.1.2 expressly names two options, at the manufacturer's choice: a notified body or a third-party organisation recognised by a Member State. Point 3.1.3 names only the second: “a third-party organisation recognised by a Member State pursuant to Article 20”. The choice is absent there, in the English and the Dutch text alike. The Dutch implementing rules treat both points together (Articles 10(4) and 12(3) of the WBDA 2016) and the database shows a few notified bodies notified for 3.1.3 as well. That is a real tension between text and practice. Ask your body to show its notification for 3.1.3 before you rely on it.

References: Annex III, modules A, A2, B, C2, D, D1, E, E1, F, G, H and H1 (module A names no body; the other eleven do); Annex I, 3.1.2 (categories II, III and IV, manufacturer's choice) and 3.1.3 (categories III and IV); Article 14(2) (which module for which category); Article 16(5); Article 20; WBDA 2016 Articles 10(4) and 12(3).

The method: checking it yourself

The list of notified bodies is the Commission's, and only that one counts. It has since been absorbed into the Single Market Compliance Space; the old NANDO addresses now lead to the start page and throw away every search parameter along the way, which means every NANDO link in older documentation and in old quotations is dead. The application is a javascript app: the server returns the same empty shell for every path and the content is fetched afterwards. It does have addresses of its own with filter parameters, so deep linking works; what does not work is retrieving or citing the list without javascript.

Open the database at webgate.ec.europa.eu/single-market-compliance-space and go to the notified bodies section. If an old NANDO link no longer works, that is normal: it is not broken but discontinued.
Select the legislation, not a keyword. The database searches by legislation; 2014/68/EU is a separate record alongside 2014/29/EU for simple pressure vessels. The old 97/23/EC is still there with the status obsolete — a body that only appears under that one is not currently notified.
Filter by country or number if you already have a body in mind. A legal entity has one number, so searching by number is the fastest route to the right record.
Read the tasks, not the name. This is the step people skip. Each notification states which modules and which points of Annex I it covers. “Notified for the PED” can mean: module A2 only. Or: Annex I, 3.1.2 only, and therefore no module at all.
Check the kind of body. The database distinguishes the notified body, the recognised third-party organisation and the user inspectorate with their own labels. Watch out for the historical labels that still refer to article numbers of the old directive; those are not about 2014/68/EU.
Record what you found. Put the date, the legislation, the number and the list of tasks in your file. The list changes daily, so a dated screenshot is your evidence that you looked properly at the moment you chose.

What each notification contains

Field	What you use it for
Legislation and country	filtering; the legislation is a separate record per act, not a keyword
Identification number	the number that follows the CE marking if the body is involved in the production control phase (Article 19(4))
Kind of body	notified body, recognised third-party organisation or user inspectorate
Modules and points	the row that matters most. Here you see whether it may do your module, and whether Annex I, 3.1.2 or 3.1.3 is included
Products	sometimes “all”, sometimes a description that may exclude your equipment — read it
Status, end date and version	with the pitfall below; never use the status as your only signal
Accreditation-based	a notification supported by an accreditation certificate follows a shorter procedure (Article 29(5): two weeks against two months)

The pitfall in the status field

The database keeps every version of a notification, and the fields that indicate currency contradict one another. Filter on the status “active” alone and you get notifications that ended years ago but whose status field was never updated — including UK bodies, which is impossible since the United Kingdom left. Filter on the latest version alone and bodies that are plainly current drop out. The database itself therefore combines two things: the record must be the latest version and the end date must be empty or in the future. How large that difference is showed up in the check of 12 September 2026: several dozen bodies sat in the status set but not in the valid set, and several dozen valid bodies were missing from the status set. Among the “active” records were some whose end date had already passed, UK ones included. That is why two people looking up “the same thing” come home with different numbers. So no total appears on this page: count it yourself on the day you need it, and note which filter you used. Never publish a count without a reference date and without the filter.

A notified number is not a quality judgement. The Blue Guide is blunt about it: allocating the identification number is a purely administrative act to keep the lists manageable, and it confers no rights. The lists exist for information. What the body can actually do is in its notification scope and comes out of the conversation you have with it.

References: Article 30(1) (one number per body, even under several Union acts) and (2) (public list with numbers and activities); Article 31 (list of recognised organisations and user inspectorates, stating their tasks); Article 29(5) (two weeks or two months); Article 19(4) (number following the CE marking); Blue Guide 2022 § 5.3.3 (the number, a purely administrative act, lists for information, refreshed daily, numbers not reused) and § 4.5.1.5. Database behaviour checked live on 12-09-2026.

What the database does not say

Four things people look for in it that are not in it. They surface at the worst moment, namely when a customer or an authority asks for evidence.

No certificates. There are no certificate numbers in it. Whether your certificate really was issued by this body cannot be checked there — for that you go to the body itself.
No reason for suspension or withdrawal. You see a status, not the ground. The reason may be a shortcoming, but equally a request from the body itself after a reorganisation or a change of ownership.
No reliable scope in retrospect. The question “what was this body notified for on the day my certificate was issued” cannot be answered cleanly with the search functions. Hence step 6 above: keep your own dated screenshot.
No readable history of names. Bodies merge and change names while the number stays. The database keeps a name per version, but the default filter searches only the latest versions — so searching on the name from an old certificate can come up empty while the number finds it straight away.

References: Article 30(2) and Article 31 (what the lists state: numbers, activities and tasks — and therefore no more than that); Blue Guide 2022 § 5.3.3 (withdrawn and expired notifications stay in a separate part of the website; numbers are not reused). Field contents checked live on 12-09-2026.

Choosing: free choice within the notification

The Blue Guide is unusually direct here: manufacturers are free to choose any notified body that has been designated to carry out the conformity assessment procedure in question. There is no obligation to take a body in your own country, and a body may offer its services to any economic operator inside or outside the Union and carry out its activities on the territory of other Member States. The limit on that freedom is not geographical but substantive: it must be notified for your procedure and your kind of equipment.

What you may expect

Proportionality. Article 34(2): assessments are carried out in a proportionate manner, avoiding unnecessary burdens for economic operators, having regard to the size of your undertaking, the complexity of the equipment and the serial nature of the production. The counterweight is in the third subparagraph of the same paragraph: the degree of rigour and the level of protection stay what they must be. Proportionate is not the same as lenient.
Documentation limited to its purpose. The Blue Guide: the technical documentation supplied to the body is limited to what is strictly required solely for the purpose of assessing conformity with the legislation, and the body should refrain from proposing additional certification or marking that has no added value for the conformity assessment of the product.
No advice from the same party. Article 24(4) prohibits activities that compromise independent judgement and adds that this applies in particular to consultancy services. Exchanging technical information and guidance is allowed. Whoever writes your file cannot assess it.
A right of appeal. Article 35 obliges Member States to provide for appeal procedures against decisions of bodies. Where a certificate of EU-type examination is refused, that possibility is also stated in Annex III itself, module B.

Subcontracting: your consent is required

This is the provision customers least often know. Article 27(3): activities may be subcontracted or carried out by a subsidiary only with the agreement of the client. Unconditional wording, no exceptions. On top of that the body keeps full responsibility regardless of where the subcontractor is established (paragraph 2) and must inform the notifying authority (paragraph 1). The Blue Guide adds that a body may only subcontract work it masters itself, may never subcontract all of its activities, and that the certificate is always issued in its own name and under its own responsibility.

References: Article 24(4) (consultancy) and (8) (remuneration not dependent on the number or outcome of assessments); Article 27(1) to (4) (subcontracting, with (3) on the agreement of the client); Article 34(2) (proportionality) and (3) to (5) (refusing, restricting, suspending and withdrawing certificates); Article 35 (appeal); Annex III module B; Blue Guide 2022 § 5.2.1, § 5.2.2, § 5.2.3 and § 5.2.5.

If your body is suspended, stops, or loses its notification

First the answer that removes most of the worry: your certificate does not lapse automatically. The Blue Guide states that the suspension or withdrawal of a notification has no effect on certificates issued by the body up to that point, until it is demonstrated that those certificates should be withdrawn. Two reservations sit in that sentence which you may not think away: the exception stays open, and the passage is expressly without prejudice to sectoral specificities.

And now the provision that is most often misquoted. Article 32(2) is about the files, not about your certificate: where a notification is restricted, suspended or withdrawn, or where the body ceases its activity, the notifying Member State ensures that the files are either processed by another body or made available to the authorities on request. Continuity of the paperwork, in other words. On the validity of certificates already issued the directive is silent here. Anyone telling you that “Article 32 keeps your certificate valid” is reading something into it that is not there.

What to do in practice, in this order: ask your body in writing what the suspension means for your specific certificate; look in the database to see which part now holds its notification and what the end date is; ask your notifying authority who takes over your file; and bear in mind that a new assessment by another body is not the same thing as a transferred file. Only the national authority can withdraw a notification — the Commission cannot do so itself, except following a ruling of the Court.

In the Netherlands the transfer of files is arranged more sharply than in the directive. WBDA 2016 Article 16(3): a body that terminates its tasks, or whose designation is withdrawn, must transfer its files in good time before that date to a body with which the economic operator has concluded an agreement — and where there is none, to the minister. WBDA Article 35(3) does the same for the national track. So you do have influence over where your file goes, provided you contract a successor in time.

References: Article 32(1) (restrict, suspend or withdraw depending on the seriousness) and (2) (files); Article 33 (challenge to competence, with the implementing act in paragraph 4); Article 34(4) and (5) (suspending or withdrawing certificates after issue); Article 36(1)(a) (duty to report every refusal, restriction, suspension or withdrawal of certificates); Blue Guide 2022 § 5.3.4; WBDA 2016 Article 14, Article 16(3) and Article 35(3).

The Netherlands: two designations that are constantly confused

The Dutch Pressure Equipment Decree 2016 contains two designation regimes in one decree, with their own chapters and their own terminology. That is the source of nearly all confusion in Dutch tenders and purchase orders.

	EU track	National track
About	CE marking: the conformity assessment before placing on the market	the service phase: inspection before commissioning, periodic re-inspection, entry inspection, modifications and repairs
Roles	EU conformity assessment body, EU user inspectorate, recognised third-party organisation	NL conformity assessment body, NL user inspectorate, plus the user's own inspection department
Designation	Article 13, with refusal and withdrawal in Article 14 and periodic verification in Article 16	Article 33, with the criteria in Articles 28 and 31, subcontracting in Article 30, refusal and withdrawal in Article 34
Outcome	notification to the Commission; the equipment gets a CE marking — except with the EU user inspectorate, whose equipment may not bear the marking (Article 16(2) of the directive), and the recognised third-party organisation does only Annex I, 3.1.2 and 3.1.3	no notification to the Commission; declarations of commissioning and re-inspection, no CE marking

Who designates, and who notifies

The designation rests on Article 7a of the Commodities Act: the minister may, on application, designate bodies competent to carry out activities designated by him within the prescribed inspection or assessment procedures. For pressure equipment that is the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment; this does not follow from the decree in so many words but from Article 15 of the decree (“Our Minister” as notifying authority) read with the definition in Article 1(1)(d) of the Commodities Act. The Dutch Accreditation Council designates nothing and notifies nothing; the decree does not even name it, but speaks of the national accreditation body. Its role is real nonetheless: a body demonstrates compliance with the criteria by means of an accreditation (Article 13(4) and Article 33(2) and (3)), and without that evidence it must supply everything itself.

Lots: not every designation covers every inspection

For the national track the designation is fine-grained. Article 15 of the Dutch Pressure Equipment Regulation 2016 sets out seven designation lots, A to G, each a fixed combination of tasks: inspection before commissioning, re-inspection at a fixed interval, extension of the interval, flexible intervals, repairs, modifications, entry inspection, and the certification of and supervision over a user's inspection department. An NL user inspectorate can only be designated for lots A to E. That puts three tasks out of its reach, because they sit only in lots F and G: extension of the interval, flexible intervals, and the certification of and supervision over an inspection department. So do not ask whether a body “is designated”, but for which lot. See also the Dutch inspection check.

References: WBDA 2016 (BWBR0038083) Article 1(1)(g), (h), (i), (q), (r) and (s); Article 10(2) and (4); Article 13(1) to (5); Article 14; Article 15(1) and (2); Article 16(1) to (3); Articles 28 to 36, in particular Articles 29 and 32 (the four tasks), Article 30(4) (agreement of the client) and Article 36(5) and (6) (the inspection department only carries out examinations within re-inspections and intended repairs, under supervision and only where certified; the declaration stays with the NL conformity assessment body); WRDA 2016 (BWBR0038317) Article 15(1) to (6); Commodities Act Article 1(1)(d), Articles 7a, 7b and 7c; Act designating the national accreditation body (BWBR0026591) Article 2(1). Checked 12-09-2026.

Five misconceptions, with the provision that refutes each

What gets said	What the text says
“This body is notified for the PED, so it can do my assessment”	Notification is per module and per kind of equipment (Article 29(3), Article 30(2)). A body may be notified solely for Annex I, 3.1.2 and then do no module at all. Read the tasks.
“For the PED this body has a different number than for ATEX”	Article 30(1), second sentence: only one number is allocated per body, even where the body is notified under several Union acts.
“Our own inspectorate can arrange the CE marking”	Article 16(2): equipment whose conformity has been assessed by a user inspectorate may not bear the CE marking. And paragraph 5 allows only A2, C2, F and G.
“The body may subcontract parts of the work, that is its business”	Article 27(3): only with the agreement of the client. You are entitled to know, and you may say no.
“Our body has been suspended, so our certificate is invalid”	Not automatically. Blue Guide § 5.3.4: the suspension or withdrawal has no effect on certificates issued earlier until it is demonstrated that they should be withdrawn. Article 32(2) covers the files only.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check whether a notified body may do my module?

Look it up in the Commission list (since 2026 part of the Single Market Compliance Space), select Directive 2014/68/EU and read the tasks of the notification rather than the name. It states per module — A2, B, C2, D, D1, E, E1, F, G, H, H1 — and per point of Annex I whether the body is notified for it. Notified for the PED says nothing: a body may be notified solely for Annex I, 3.1.2 and then do no module at all. Record your finding with the date, because the list changes daily.

Does a body have a separate number for each directive?

No. Article 30(1), second sentence, of Directive 2014/68/EU states literally that only one identification number is allocated per body, even where the body is notified under several Union acts. Blue Guide 2022 § 5.3.3 repeats this and adds that the number is a purely administrative act conferring no rights. So do not look for a second number belonging to the same legal entity.

What is the difference between a notified body and a recognised third-party organisation?

The task. The recognised third-party organisation performs only the approvals under Annex I, 3.1.2 and 3.1.3: the procedures for permanent joining, the personnel who join and the personnel carrying out non-destructive testing. It does not appear anywhere in Annex III — the modules. The requirements for both sit in the same Article 24; the list of recognised organisations states their tasks and no identification number (Article 31), unlike the list of notified bodies (Article 30(2)).

May I choose a notified body from another country?

Yes. Blue Guide 2022 § 5.2.3: manufacturers are free to choose any notified body designated to carry out the procedure in question. Paragraph 5.2.2 adds that a body may offer its services to any economic operator inside or outside the Union and may also work on the territory of other Member States. The only limit is substantive: it must be notified for your procedure and your kind of equipment.

My notified body has been suspended. Is my certificate invalid now?

Not automatically. Blue Guide 2022 § 5.3.4 states that the suspension or withdrawal of a notification has no effect on certificates issued up to that point, until it is demonstrated that those certificates should be withdrawn. The directive itself, in Article 32(2), covers only the files: they are processed by another body or made available to the authorities. In the Netherlands WBDA Article 16(3) goes further and obliges the body to transfer its files in good time before the end date to a body with which you have concluded an agreement. Ask for a written position on your own certificate and arrange a successor in time.

Not sure yet which module you need?

Then the body is the second question. The free check gives the category and the permitted modules; the full report puts the module choice and the file list on paper so you can approach a body with one question.

Run the free check or see the full report

Finding a notified body: the method, not the list