Approved monitoring body
Approved monitoring bodies (ZÜS) were introduced as part of the liberalization of testing in Germany and have been carrying out those tests since January 1, 2006 that were previously carried out by the officially recognized experts of the monitoring organizations. A change from personal testing (experts) to organization-related testing (approved monitoring bodies) was thus implemented. The legal basis is contained in the Product Safety Act .
Approved monitoring bodies are, for example, Lloyd's Register , TÜV , DEKRA , GTÜ and SGS as well as the approved test centers of large companies.
tasks
Approved monitoring bodies carry out prescribed and, if necessary, officially ordered tests on certain systems that require monitoring on the basis of the Industrial Safety and Health Ordinance (BetrSichV). According to the provisions of the BetrSichV, approved monitoring bodies are intended for the following tasks:
- Preparation of an expert opinion for the systems requiring monitoring, for which a permit must be applied for from the competent authority
- Tests prior to commissioning of certain systems that require monitoring
- Recurring tests of certain systems that require monitoring
- Review of the test period determined by the operator, provided that the recurring test is to be carried out by approved bodies
- Notify the competent authority of the defects that endanger employees or third parties
- Safety assessment in the event of an accident or damage
In addition, the approved monitoring bodies can generally also be commissioned to carry out tests that, according to BetrSichV , may also be carried out by qualified persons .
Granting of authorization and designation
Before approved monitoring bodies are allowed to operate, their competence and suitability must be proven by the ZLS ( Central Office of the States for Safety Technology ) in at least one of the areas of application of pressure equipment, elevator systems or explosion protection systems. The guidelines on requirements for approved monitoring bodies, issued by the ZLS, must be observed. For each federal state in which these approved monitoring bodies want to operate, they must be named by the respective state authorities. In the meantime, the ZLS has adopted this designation for the state authorities (except for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Hamburg). The federal states have issued corresponding ordinances for the designation procedure.