The Wide World of Regulatory Testing and Certifications for New Product Introductions

Introducing new products should begin by working with the appropriate agencies for regulatory testing and certifications. But learning which certifications are needed, and how to receive them can be overwhelming. This infographic features some of the more well known certifications, what they represent, and what countries they are accepted in.



UL
Underwriter Laboratories – UL is the most widely known and respected marks. Established in 1894 to find out if products being developed were safe, which remains the company’s primary goal to this day. They have expanded into different fields from consumer products to construction focusing on safety in each of the fields they expanded with. Certifying products at the component level by giving the “Recognized Component Mark,” indicating certified component but not automatically the end product.

CE
Conformité Européenne or CE mark indicates conformance to European Union standards and limits, but it is not an organization. The standards they are following  could be for safety, environment and/or health related certifications. If certain product fails under one of CE Directives, it will then required to meet the EU standards before it can be distributed within the European Economic area.

RoHS
Reduction of Hazardous Substances, sets limits on the amount of certain substances in electronics. One of many directives in the CE it is almost a household term because of its widespread effect around the world. Often referred to as the “lead-free directive” by everyone like hobbyists and manufacturers since the move to lead-free solder as the most apparent change in the certification. RoHS also limits the amount of mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, though inaccurate since the directives covers several other hazardous materials as well.

You can read more of the Wide World Regulatory Testing and Certifications at AA-PCBAssembly site 

Including the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronics Equipment), ETL (Electrical Testing Laboratories), CSA (Canadian Standards Association), and those Certification for Electromagnetic Compatibility Certifications such as FCC (Federal Communications Commission, The New Zealand’s FCC equivalent, a mandatory requirement for all products covered by Australia’s EMC regulatory arrangements. - C-Tick, BSMI - Taiwan’s Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection, and KC or the Korea Certification.