EU Low Voltage Directive voltage scope triage workflow

Start the record with the equipment as sold in the EU: model identifier, supply interface, rated input, rated output if it supplies another product, accessories included in the box, and the manufacturer's stated intended use. The LVD scope test applies to electrical equipment designed for use within the Directive's voltage limits, so the evidence should show the intended voltage range, not only a test-lab operating point.

Separate rated input and output from voltages generated only inside the equipment. The Commission's LVD guidance uses the highest rating for equipment with several input or output ratings: that rating must fall within 50-1000 V AC or 75-1500 V DC. Equipment exceeding 1000 V AC or 1500 V DC is outside the Directive's voltage scope. A mains-powered charger can be in scope even when its output is extra-low-voltage DC, while a separately marketed low-voltage accessory is not brought into scope merely because it connects to that charger.

After the voltage check, screen the product against Annex II. The useful output is a short exclusion table: category checked, product facts, result, and where the item is routed instead. This prevents a team from creating an LVD declaration for products the Directive expressly excludes.

The common traps are domestic plug and socket products, simple travel adapters, lift parts, electricity meters, electric fence controllers, radiology or medical electrical equipment, explosive-atmosphere equipment, and custom-built professional R&D evaluation kits. For plug-and-socket products, distinguish domestic plugs and socket outlets from industrial appliance couplers, cord sets, switched products, and adapters with electronics.

For each item in the bill of materials or sales bundle, decide whether it is a finished product made available on the EU market, a component sold as a separate electrical equipment item, or a component assessed as part of a finished product. The LVD Guide flags components as a distinct scope question and the finished-equipment assessment still needs to cover how incorporated electrical parts affect safety.

For chargers and adapters, write the scope result against the item actually sold. A mobile-phone charger, plug-in night light, power adapter, or multiple travel adapter with a supply is not the same as a passive plug converter. A bundled external power supply may need its own LVD evidence even when the powered device itself is outside the voltage range.

Close the triage with a routing line for each non-LVD or mixed-regime result. Name the product fact that moved the item: radio function, electromagnetic interference issue, machinery function, domestic-plug exclusion, or another Annex II category.

Radio equipment is not subject to the LVD as such when it falls within the Radio Equipment Directive, although RED references health and safety requirements corresponding to LVD objectives. EMC handles electromagnetic compatibility and radio-electrical interference; it does not supersede the LVD safety assessment for in-range electrical equipment. Machinery routing depends on whether the product is a machine and whether it falls into a category that remains under LVD, such as household appliances intended for domestic use, audio/video equipment, IT equipment, ordinary office machinery, low-voltage switchgear and control gear, or electric motors.

Directive 2006/42/EC remains the main machinery route until the new Regulation generally applies. Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 applies generally from 20 January 2027 and uses updated wording for the electrical and electronic product exclusions. Re-run this branch for products placed on the market under the new regime.

The final artifact should be a scope table that product, compliance, quality, and release teams can inspect without re-running the analysis. Keep one row per item sold or supplied with the product, not one row per project. An outside-scope result answers only the LVD question; it does not establish that the product is unregulated or that CE marking is unnecessary under every other applicable Union act.

A complete row contains: item name and model, input rating, output rating where relevant, intended-use evidence, Annex II screen result, component or finished-equipment status, applicable route, standards evidence owner, declaration or supplier-document owner, unresolved assumptions, and release action.