The difference between GS and CE

The GS mark is a test mark demonstrating the compliance of a product with German safety standards, more precisely with the German Product Safety Act (ProdSG). A GS certificate may only be awarded by independent authorised certification bodies. The GS procedure always involves production monitoring.

We are authorised (by ZLS) to award the GS mark.

The CE marking is based on a declaration by the manufacturer. The manufacturer declares under his sole responsibilty that his product complies with all relevant European CE directives. The CE marking is an administrative mark directed towards market surveillance authorities. Involving independent certification bodies, so-called notified bodies, is not necessary in most cases and is mainly limited to products with a high risk potential, e.g. certain medical devices.

We are a notified body for the EMC directive, machinery directive, medical device directive, outdoor directive and toy safety directive. Regardless of notifications we support manufacturers with our services if they want to involve an independent laboratory on their own accord, e.g. by testing their products according to relevant harmonised standards.