Inspection Certificate 3.1 or 2.2? Inspection Documents to EN 10204 Explained

Anyone procuring steel for demanding applications cannot avoid EN 10204. The standard specifies which types of inspection documents a manufacturer can issue for metallic products, and what content and what binding force these documents each have. In practice, the choice of the right document decides whether a material may be used at all for a particular component. In what follows, we clarify the difference between the common types 2.1, 2.2, 3.1 and 3.2 and show when which certificate is required.

Specific and non-specific inspection

EN 10204 fundamentally distinguishes two types of inspection, and this difference is the key to understanding the entire standard. With non-specific inspection, the manufacturer demonstrates the properties by means of procedures that are not necessarily carried out on the delivered product itself, for example via ongoing production control. With specific inspection, by contrast, the tests are performed on the actually delivered products or on test units from which the delivery originates. Only specific inspection therefore allows an unambiguous assignment of the test results to the specific batch or heat, and thus genuine traceability.

The types at a glance

At its core, the standard recognizes four types of document, which differ in content and confirming authority:

• 2.1 – works certificate: confirmation by the manufacturer that the products comply with the requirements of the order, but without stating test results.
• 2.2 – inspection certificate (test report): confirmation of conformity with the standard, stating test results from non-specific inspection.
• 3.1 – inspection certificate: confirmation with results from specific inspection, confirmed by a manufacturer's inspection representative independent of the manufacturing department.
• 3.2 – inspection certificate: as 3.1, additionally confirmed by an independent body or by the purchaser's authorized inspection representative.

The decisive jump lies between 2.2 and 3.1: only from the inspection certificate 3.1 onwards do the documented values come from a specific inspection and are confirmed by an independent inspection representative. This allows the document to be assigned to the specific heat.

When which certificate is needed

Which document you need follows from the application, the applicable codes and the safety relevance of the component. As a guide:

• For safety-relevant and highly stressed components, as well as for the field of pressure equipment, an inspection certificate 3.1 is generally required, since here traceability to the heat must be demonstrated.
• In structural steelwork, the required document depends on the execution class and the project specification; depending on the requirement, 2.2 or 3.1 come into consideration.
• For subordinate or non-critical applications, a works certificate 2.1 or an inspection certificate 2.2 may be sufficient.

Decisive are always the relevant product standards, the applicable code and the specific order details. When in doubt, you should define the required type of document unambiguously as early as the enquiry stage, because a specific inspection often cannot be cleanly demonstrated after the fact.

Order the certificate at the same time

The type of inspection document is not a subsequent detail, but part of the technical order information. Anyone who needs a 3.1 must specify this at the time of ordering, so that traceability is documented seamlessly. At Steel Line, an inspection certificate 3.1 is available on request. It is therefore best to state the desired document directly together with material, dimension and standard.

In short: EN 10204 distinguishes inspection documents by content and confirming authority. 2.1 confirms without test results, 2.2 provides results from non-specific inspection, 3.1 and 3.2 document results from specific inspection with traceability to the heat, with 3.2 additionally confirmed by the purchaser. For safety-relevant components, there is usually no way around the 3.1, available at Steel Line on request.