consumer product certification/regulation

I'm working on a consumer electronics product, and want to know more about the variety of consumer safety and compliance certification programs, and governmental regulation requirements, that I would need or want for selling the product (in the US and EU at the very least). I'm guessing UL, CE, RoHS, FCC... possibly more.

Is there any single text or website that will give me both a good overview of the various requirements and standards (so I can decide whether I need to pursue it or not) and more depth on the requirements, or at least solid references (so that I can learn enought to actually design and test for it)? I know there are companies that specialize in testing and certification for some of these standards, and i will probably end up using them for some things, but want to do as much as possible on my own.

Thanks, The Dude

Reply to
The Dude
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Be very carefull with the advice you buy! Test houses will make you believe you have to test in order to be certified which is not true for all cases. If you want to sell in the EU, get some advice from companies that export to the EU.

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Reply to
Nico Coesel

This legislation crap is designed by the test houses, to generate paper work and money for the people who suggested the bullshit, but some of it does make sense, sort of.

Don't expect any help from government departments. There is no single competent unbiased website that I have found, as it is such an immense area

It may be wise to check out so called 3rd world countries for providing testing and documentation, they may have slightlty worse labs that provide better results!

The cheapest method is

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But chat with Eyeore, or John Woodgate.

martin

Reply to
martin griffith

UL is aimed at industrial markets. It is the customer that requires UL or not. Be prepared that UL is a type of mafia, unless all subcomponents, cables are UL, it'll be hard to get UL. Haing all UL is not sufficient however, depending on the actual application, different rules apply to differnt subparts. Eg temperature compilance of the cables. I'm not aware that consumer stuff requires UL.

CE is selfcertified, meaning you glue the sticker on when you're confident that you pass. Some customers may insist on the tests actually having been carried out - a matter of confidence and liability. CE consists of EMI and safety. You should get some expert advice on both. There are a tons of rules dependent on the market and the product.

RoHS means (for the consumer market) that your product only contains RoHS compilant parts.

Rene

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Reply to
Rene Tschaggelar
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I _think_ you have that backwards. IIUIC, consumer products _must_ meet UL.

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

AFAIUI, it's technically optional (there is no national requirement in the US for electrical safety or fire testing as a precondition of offering a product for sale), but it really is a defacto requirement for serious sales of consumer products (eg. through national retailers), installation of products by licensed electricians etc. IIRC, some lower levels of government than the feds may require UL or equivalent for products connected to the electrical system (maybe Chicago). It does seem a bit bass-ackwards that Part 15 is non-optional but *safety* approvals are not...

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

Definitely not here in Europe. It may well be that the requirements in terms of safety and whatever amounts to the same, but I don't need to only apply UL certified materials.

Can someone briefly outline what UL contains ? Saftey ? EMI ? Highvoltage norms ?

Rene

Reply to
Rene Tschaggelar

I've always been amused by UL... alright to kill the user, but mustn't catch fire ;-)

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

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No, they don\'t have to.

UL is not a regulatory agency.
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Reply to
John Fields

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Not true.

The reason AC control wiring is all 24V is because it doesn\'t
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Reply to
John Fields

Thanks for all the interest and responses... given that it seems like many people (not just myself) have a hard time getting a good overview of what the requirements are and which ones are relevant/necessary, I've started a wikibook on the topic here:

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I've just sketched out a (very very) preliminary table of contents, and will be putting in some of the info that I collect in my research as I go along. It would be great if some of the knowledgable folks on this newsgroup are up for pitching in... in case you're not familiar with wikis, anybody can contribute - just click "edit" and start writing. Or take a look at the "editing help" here:

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Don't worry about messing things up, there is an edit history that can be tracked back through as well, so nothing will get irrevocably lost.

-The Dude

The Dude wrote:

Reply to
The Dude

Wow, excellent, maybe it will calm need to go back to my bed, and throw the sheets over me, and hope the world will go away....

I hope it will it be translated into engineering english, or even english :-)

martin

Reply to
martin griffith

This is my understanding as well. UL = Underwriters Laboratories, who's reason for existence is to demonstrate to your insurance underwriter that a product is safe enough to insure.

The process of getting UL approval is pretty straight-forward, but it's expensive and requires follow-up visits from UL at your expense. Details are here:

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The test for CE compliance (for EMI at least) is CISPR 22. I had to redesign an LCD video board several years ago to meet this standard so they could be legally sold in the EU. Many testing labs in the US can handle this. As usual, it's really expensive...

Chris

Reply to
Christopher Ott

No. Consumers are free to buy non-UL stuff, if they are willing to assume all liability in it's use.

For example - Household insurance won't cover a fire where the un-labelled part has any association with the ignition source. Same thing goes for personal injury involving unexamined devices.

In large scale manufacturing, the costs are amortized fairly easily. If all products are examined, the costs are conceivably minimized in their simple continuous volume and in the effective standardization of testing. That was the aim, as I understand it.

It can be a head-ache, admittedly; but not for chip designers.

New products should be kept power-simple, if major expenses are to be avoided.

RL

Reply to
legg

Not true (*)

Not true (*)

(*) UL Rating (somewhat) protects the manufacturer from liability, but has nothing to do with personal (homeowner's) insurance liability.

Where you can get into trouble is by doing home-brew electronics or house wiring.

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

My (allstate) agent says that is BS too.

Reply to
gfretwell

He will tend to do so, as long as he's collecting premiums and not paying out on obligations.

RL

Reply to
legg

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