Ron, You add an excellent point that I missed in my response. I would add one thing--safety certification has never been mandatory, only voluntary. There may have been governmental organizations that didn't want to back your product via a national approval (implicit would then be the idea that they checked everything) unless you had certification. In this sense, the approval organization was acting like your distributor would. But it has not been part of the law to get TUV, BSI, or any other certification marks in Europe. In the US of course, the same applies except for products used in the workplace.
Hence, the real question is: if so many companies did not legally require certification (clear non-telecom products stand out), why have they been getting it for 21 years. Answers could be four-eyes principle, liability backing, marketing reasons, etc. But these are all market issues--not legal ones. Due diligence is the heart of any companies approach and even a certification body cannot offset that. Further, I would think none would want to have their marks on products that come from companies with poor due diligence. Gene Panger TUV Product Service ------------- Original Text >From [email protected], on 29-4-96 8:59 AM: To: <[email protected]>, "Victor L. Boersma" <[email protected]> Hello Vic, The way you will protect yourself is DUE DILIGENCE. As a matter of fact, that is really the way you protected yourself in the past. The only reason you were getting certifications is that they were legally required of you. The certification house would not have accepted liability in the event of a tragedy; your company would. In this regard, nothing has changed. You need to make sure you are comfortable with the interpretation (of the standard) that you use and then act on it in good conscience. Incidentally, if someone gets hurt, you will be sued. The only question that will need to be answered is did you play by the intent of the rules or did you circumvent the rules... Ron Fotino Cabletron Systems, Inc. ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Dumb Question Author: "Victor L. Boersma" <[email protected]> at !INTERNET List-Post: [email protected] Date: 4/27/96 8:14 PM In the grey past, we obtained certification/listing from our friendly certification houses. If we thought that something was wrong with the application of an old standard to a new product, we would have a heart-to-heart talk with our certification organization. If we had a good, solid and valid argument, chances were that our certification organization would agree and certify us to the spirit of the standard. In addition, it was likely that our certification organization would propose changes to the standard, to rectify the anomaly. In the brave new world of "Declaration of Conformity", the only time you have to explain yourself is, when you get caught. The question will be whether the regulatory police will consist of intelligent people who think like you, or will they be dummies who think unlike you ? If they think unlike you, your organization may be in for extraordinarily expensive times, where the fact that they don't have you on the payroll any longer, will not offset the costs. Question: How are we going to best protect our owners and ourselves in this new environment ???? Ciao, Vic Boersma
