EN 14683:2019

Medical face masks – Requirements and test methods

EN 14683:2019 helps to specify the construction, design, performance requirements and test methods for medical face masks intended to reduce contamination of patients by transmitted particles from staff in non-intra-hospital settings such as hospitals and other healthcare institutions such as clinics or partner elective treatment centers. A medical face mask with an appropriate microbial barrier can also be effective in reducing the hazard of infected body fluids being passed on to other people.

This European Standard is not applicable to masks intended exclusively for the personal protection of staff.

• Standards for masks for use as respiratory personal protective equipment are available.
• Annex A provides information for the users of medical face masks.

There are three types of surgical masks for EU Market:

• Type I: Bacterial filtering effectiveness > 95%.
• Type IR: Bacterial filtering effectiveness > 95%, splash-resistant
• Type II: Bacterial filtering effectiveness > 98%.
• Type IIR: Bacterial filtering effectiveness > 98%, splash-resistant