Article 6 of Ministerial Decree No. 37 of January 22, 2008, establishes that “companies must install systems in accordance with best practices, in compliance with current regulations, and are responsible for their proper execution.”
Systems designed and installed in compliance with the applicable legislation and the standards issued by UNI, CEI, or other recognized standardization bodies from EU member states or from countries that are contracting parties to the European Economic Area Agreement are considered to be executed “according to the rules of the art.”
In the specific case of fire detection systems, this means designing and providing systems that comply with the design standards adopted by UNI (except for the provisions of the new Ministerial Decree of December 20, 2012, concerning standards issued by internationally recognized organizations) and using products that conform to the harmonized product standards adopted by UNI and CEI (specifically, the EN 54 series).
Regarding the functional aspects of a fire detection system, it should be noted that standard EN 54-1 defines the correlation between system functions and product standards, summarized in the following scheme:
The control and indicating equipment (function B) must comply with EN 54-2 and EN 54-13 (the latter only if the system operates in a network).
This means that product conformity assessment must meet the requirements of Annex ZA (ZA.2.2.1) of EN 54-2, which specifies that the manufacturer must ensure that initial type testing, in compliance with this European standard, is initiated and performed under the responsibility of a notified certification body.
That the product remains consistent with the samples that were type-tested and verified for compliance with this European standard.
The second point implies that control panels must be supplied in the same configuration in which they were certified by the notified body, unless the modification procedure defined in EN 54-2, clause ZA.2.2.4, is followed.
Therefore, configurations different from those certified and declared by the manufacturer in the technical documentation — even if technically feasible — are not compliant with the product standard.
Similarly, the use of addressable modules to manage extinguishing systems is permitted only if their certification under EN 54-18 explicitly includes such use (corresponding to function G of EN 54-1).
Otherwise, such a system configuration is not compliant, even though the modules may be capable of providing one or more outputs for activating solenoid valves. The fact that a device can issue a monitored control command does not automatically mean it is legally or normatively compliant.