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Lights E-Mark - What is Legal?

Lights E-Mark

In this article, we will try to cover the entire topic of the legality of lights and what an E-Mark precisely means – as well as explain when lights are legal and not legal.

The article is based on styling lights that we sell on astina.dk from brands such as Sonar, JunYan, EagleEyes, Depo, Osram and others.

E-Mark – it must be there to be legal

Basically, you can say that the light must first and foremost be E-Marked to be legal – if the light does not have an E-Mark, the product is not legal to use in Denmark. This applies to all types of lights on a car, license plate lights, fog lights, reverse lights, brake lights, headlights, and taillights.

The E-Mark can appear with many different marks, you will see E1, E11, etc. The E-number means it is EU-approved, and then the number indicates the “country” the approval covers. For example, E1 means the approval was issued in Germany – E11 means the approval was issued in the UK – as long as the product is E-Marked, the country it was issued in does not matter.

The only thing to be aware of is, for example, if the headlights are made for right-hand drive cars, such as in the UK – they are made for the English market and will therefore light incorrectly – and thus not be legal.

osram emaerk lygter 1

Here is an example of Osram lights approved with Xenon and LED for a VW Golf 6 – see more about these lights here:
https://www.astina.dk/golf-6-osram-led-forlygter

Can lights without E-Mark be legal?

Technically – No! – However, you will often find that the lights can meet all the requirements set by the Road Traffic Authority regarding light output, functionality, etc. – but this does not change the fact that the lights are still illegal – they must be E-Marked AND meet all legal requirements!

Why do you sell lights without E-Mark?

There are two reasons why we often carry lights without E-Mark in our range.

  1. Special car model that is not popular enough in Europe for an approval to be paid for – an E-Mark costs a lot of money, so it would require a large investment to get lights made with E-Mark. Often there will be car models where it is not worth doing this in Europe, but maybe the model is big enough in other parts of the world, such as Asia or the USA – so we often import the lights here – they will often meet all requirements but just lack the E-Mark.
  2. The E-Mark is expensive – therefore, there are also some manufacturers today who simply do not want to pay for it, and then sell the lights without E-Mark. This is a somewhat newer phenomenon and is often seen with lights produced by smaller manufacturers in the East, whereas point 1 is what we do from the large recognized light manufacturers.

So if the lights are E-Marked, are they always legal?

NO! The E-Mark is a requirement, but in addition, the lights must still meet the requirements set by the Road Traffic Authority – for example, if the car is equipped with original electric headlight adjustment – the lights must not be replaced with manually adjustable lights – likewise, there must be reflectors on the back of the car – sometimes you will find that when buying new E-Marked lights, it requires you to install separate reflectors on the car for it to be legal.

emark 06

The lights have a DOT / SAE approval – are they then legal?

NO! DOT / SAE approval is an approval used for the American market – it has no value in Europe and is completely irrelevant whether it is there or not.

SAE DOT approval

Can lights be TÜV approved?

NO! Lights use an E-Mark, and it is always molded into the light itself. TÜV is not something used for lighting on a car, but for example, for suspensions, spacers, and similar – as TÜV is a kind of data declaration that the product meets the requirements, whereas the E-Mark is “higher” in the hierarchy as it is a “legal stamp”.

osram emaerk lygter 1

I can't find the E-Mark on my lights

It is actually far from always so easy – it will as a rule always be molded into the light glass itself – in very rare cases, it can be inside the plastic of the light housing – the E-Mark must ALWAYS be visible without having to remove the light!

Often on black/dark lights from carDNA it is difficult to find the E-Mark

Examples of lights where you can hardly see the E-Mark:

 

emark01

emark02