As was the case until March 2020, since October 2020 it has once again only been permitted to market FFP2 and FFP3 masks that have undergone the EU conformity evaluation process in accordance with EU Regulation 2016/425 on PPE, thus meeting the requirements of EU standards EN149:2001 and A1:2009. They receive the CE mark with the testing institution’s four-digit number. DEKRA’s number is 0158. “Before the pandemic, we tested three or four mask brands in accordance with EN149 each year,” says Jörg-Timm Kilisch, Managing Director of DEKRA Testing & Certification. “Now it’s up to 30 each month.”

In DEKRA’s climate test cabinet in Essen, the temperature can reach up to 70 degrees Celsius. After more than 2 days, the experts remove the masks to assess their durability. The test on the running belt machine is just as realistic. It tests whether the mask remains correctly fitted during movements such as walking, nodding, and speaking. They then test how tightly it lies on the face, and whether it is also suitable for people who wear glasses or have beards. If the glasses fog up during the positioning test, the mask fails.