The PED was in force in November 1999 and has been mandatory in European Union Member States since May 2002. Most of the standards referred to in the PED are relatively new although some of the standards were adopted in the early 1990s. On the other hand, the ASME B&PV Code has been used for a long time now and is the result of several decades of industrial experiences.
The authors present a comparison of requirements for welding procedure qualification as well as a comparison of welder qualifications. The requirements for welders and welding operators are more similar than in relation to welding procedure qualification. The SS-EN standard often requires more examinations and tests for welding procedure qualifications. However, most of the SS-EN qualifications cover a larger scope of application resulting in a smaller number of procedure qualifications. Although it may be concluded that both ASME Code and SS-EN standards ensure an almost equivalent level of intrinsic quality, there are numerous differences between their requirements for procedure qualifications. These differences are also discussed in the report.
The range of approval for welder qualifications depends on essential variables and is sometimes less restricted in ASME Code (IX) but sometimes less restricted in the SS-EN standard (287-1). In practice, it is sometimes admitted that an ASME IX welder qualification is replaced by a SS-EN 287-1 qualification and vice versa.