Explosion protection is being newly regulated at the Community level. European Directive 94/9/EC provides a new legal framework for the marketing of explosion-protected equipment, components and protective systems and has been in effect now for some time. For the first time, not only electrical but also non-electrical equipment and autonomous protective systems are included as well. The supplemental European Directive 1999/92/EC, which is directed at plant operators and includes provisions for protecting personnel from potential explosions, has been recently adopted. The aim of the following article is to present the main new terms and regulations of the two directives (without any claim to completeness). Further, the changes in explosion protection applying to operators of plants with sectors having explosion potential are assessed.