Are household appliances in scope of the Low Voltage Directive?
Usually yes, if the appliance is electrical equipment designed for use within the LVD voltage bands: 50-1000 V AC or 75-1500 V DC. Member States have applied the recast Directive's substantive provisions since 20 April 2016. The LVD covers safety for persons, domestic animals, and property, and the Commission's LVD guide describes it as a safety directive for electrical equipment, not only for electric-shock hazards.
The scope check should still be product-specific. A mains-powered kettle, refrigerator, washing machine, room heater, or kitchen machine may be an LVD product, but radio functions, EMC performance, gas-appliance risks, or machinery classification can add or shift requirements. The LVD assessment should therefore say which finished appliance configuration is being placed on the market and which adjacent EU acts are also being handled.
For the machinery boundary, the manufacturer's stated intended use matters. The Commission guide treats appliances intended for typical housekeeping functions and domestic use as LVD products rather than machinery on that ground. Appliances intended specifically for commercial or industrial use can instead fall under machinery law. Product information, instructions, advertising, and the declaration should state the same intended use and should not contradict reasonably foreseeable use.
- Record the rated input, supply type, intended users, installation environment, accessories, software or wireless modules, and any exclusions considered.
- Check appliance safety hazards beyond electric shock, including heat, fire, mechanical movement, radiation where safety-related, insulation, moisture, stability, and foreseeable use.
- For products in the EN 60335 series, verify whether the relevant standard reference is published, restricted, amended, withdrawn, or allocated to another regime such as machinery.
Do household appliances automatically comply with the LVD if they carry a CE mark?
No. CE marking is the manufacturer's declaration that applicable requirements and conformity assessment have been completed. For an LVD household appliance, the file still needs the actual safety assessment, applied standards or other technical solutions, test evidence, instructions and warnings, EU declaration of conformity, and production-control evidence.
What should the first LVD scope note say for a household appliance?
Identify the appliance model and configuration, voltage rating, supply type, intended domestic or similar use, foreseeable installation and maintenance conditions, standards considered, adjacent regimes considered, and the conclusion on whether the LVD applies to the appliance as placed on the EU market.
Supports the LVD voltage bands, safety objectives, conformity assessment, EU declaration of conformity, CE marking, and economic-operator duties.
Commission LVD page used for the policy context, guidance links, and the LVD's product-safety purpose.
Lists published and withdrawn harmonised standards for electrical equipment, including many household and similar appliance standards.
Non-binding guidance on the LVD and machinery boundary for household appliances, including domestic, commercial, and industrial intended use.