Does my product need CE marking? A walkthrough by product type

The question "does my product need CE marking" cannot be answered from the product's name. It is answered from what the product does: does it plug into mains power, does it have a radio, does it have moving parts that could injure someone, is it aimed at children. Two products in the same category can land under completely different rules depending on one design choice. Below is a walkthrough of the questions that actually decide it, organised by the categories we see most often.

Start with three questions

Before anything else, ask:

1. Does it connect to electrical power, mains or battery, above a trivial level? 2. Does it transmit or receive a radio signal (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, RFID, a simple remote control)? 3. Is it a toy, or could it reasonably be perceived as intended for children under 14 to play with?

A "yes" to any of these puts you inside at least one CE directive already. A "no" to all three does not mean you are exempt from every rule, it means you are more likely governed by the general safety backstop (the General Product Safety Regulation) rather than a sector directive. See our CE marking requirements piece for how the directive stack fits together.

Consumer electronics (mains-powered)

Anything that plugs into the wall, chargers, power supplies, kitchen appliances, monitors, almost always sits under the Low Voltage Directive (2014/35/EU) for basic electrical safety and the EMC Directive (2014/30/EU) for interference. If it also has Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, RED (2014/53/EU) replaces LVD and EMC as the relevant framework for those aspects, since RED's own essential requirements incorporate safety and EMC. RoHS restrictions on hazardous substances apply across almost all of this category regardless of what else applies.

Wireless and IoT devices

If a product transmits or receives radio signals, RED (2014/53/EU) is the starting point regardless of what else it does. RED also carries delegated cybersecurity requirements (network protection, personal data safeguards, fraud protection) for internet-connected devices, childcare-related equipment and wearables, which became applicable on 1 August 2025. If the device also processes user data over the internet, budget time to read up on the incoming Cyber Resilience Act too. We cover the timeline in the Cyber Resilience Act for hardware startups.

Toys

The Toy Safety Directive (2009/48/EC) is unusually strict and is judged on intended and foreseeable use, not just marketing copy. A product marketed as a "decorative figure for adult collectors" can still be caught if a reasonable person would expect a child to play with it. Toys have specific chemical migration limits, choking-hazard testing for small parts, and (in most cases) mandatory third-party testing rather than pure self-assessment. If a toy has electronics inside, it also needs to meet EMC and, where relevant, RED and RoHS.

Wearables and childcare-related products

Wearables sit at the intersection of several regimes: RED if they are wireless, the medical devices framework if they make any health claim beyond wellness, and the RED cybersecurity delegated act specifically calls out wearables and childcare products for extra scrutiny. Baby monitors and similar childcare electronics are treated with particular care under both RED's cybersecurity provisions and general safety law, since the risk profile (a device watching or protecting a child) is judged more strictly than a general consumer gadget.

Power tools, machinery and garden equipment

Anything with moving parts capable of causing injury generally falls under machinery-related legislation. Note that the current Machinery Directive (2006/42/EC) is being replaced by the Machinery Regulation ((EU) 2023/1230), which applies from 20 January 2027 with no transition period for products placed on the market from that date. If you are designing a product now for a 2027 launch, you should be building against the new regulation's requirements, not the outgoing directive.

PPE and safety gear

Personal protective equipment has its own regulation (PPE Regulation (EU) 2016/425) with risk-based categories: Category I (minimal risk) allows self-certification, Category II and III require notified body involvement, with Category III (protection against mortal danger, e.g. certain respiratory protection) requiring ongoing quality-system surveillance, not just a one-off assessment.

Drones, e-mobility and batteries

Drones (unmanned aircraft) sit outside the traditional CE product directives and instead follow the EU's specific drone regulatory framework, which classifies products by risk category (open, specific, certified) with different marking, registration and operator-training requirements attached to each. If your drone also has a radio, RED still applies to that aspect specifically. E-bikes and e-scooters typically combine machinery-related requirements with EMC and, for the battery itself, the EU Batteries Regulation ((EU) 2023/1542), which has its own staged timeline: conformity assessment and CE marking provisions for batteries applied from 18 August 2024, and end-user battery removability requirements apply from 18 February 2027. Any product with a built-in battery, not just e-mobility, is increasingly likely to be touched by this regulation as its provisions phase in.

Computer peripherals and audio/video equipment

Peripherals and AV equipment (monitors, speakers, webcams, docking stations) generally sit under the same core stack as other mains or USB-powered electronics: EMC always, LVD if mains-powered above the low-voltage threshold, RED if wireless. The detail that catches people out here is accessories and cables sold separately: a charging cable or dock sold as its own SKU is usually still in scope of EMC in its own right, even though it looks like a passive accessory.

Furniture, textiles, jewellery, candles

Products with no electrical, radio or mechanical hazard usually fall outside every CE directive entirely. That does not mean "no rules": furniture, textiles and similar categories still have to meet the General Product Safety Regulation's general safety requirement, plus category-specific chemical restrictions (REACH substance restrictions apply horizontally regardless of CE status) and, for children's items specifically, tighter scrutiny under both GPSR and, in some cases, toy safety law if the item could be perceived as a toy.

Do not guess. Check.

This is a walkthrough, not a verdict. The fastest way to get a real answer for your specific product, in the EU, UK and US at once, is our free requirements checker: pick your category, pick your markets, answer a few honest questions about what the product does, and see the applicable regulations with links to the source guides for each one.