The question about a Denmark standard deviation indicates that a better understanding of global standards might be helpful. Here is my own method of keeping the various ITE standards in perspective. There are many subscribers who can probably state the same things even better.
IEC 60950 I view this standard as the starting point, although it was created from many existing standards. The third edition (1999) is now out, but not yet in common use. The world-wide CB Scheme is based on testing to IEC 60950 for ITE. This is referred to as "OFF" (office) products in the table of "Countries" listed on www.cbscheme.org . The CB Scheme also includes testing to many other product standards, although this article focuses on ITE products. This is a global reciprocity agreement between some 34 participating countries that will generally reduce the time and costs of obtaining many local country approvals. A CB Certificate and Test Report issued by any of the authorized Certification Bodies (CB) is generally accepted by any of the other country CB participants. A reviewing country has the right to request a sample unit to compare to the Test Report, but will normally perform little, if any, additional testing. However, many major countries have their own ITE safety standard. For those in the CB Scheme, it will be very close to IEC 60950, but with some "national deviations" or "country differences". These must be reported by each participating country to the IECEE, and are listed in the CB Bulletins. When requesting a CB Cert/Report, it is important to have the examining agency include any country differences for the intended markets, and to have this clearly stated on the Certificate and/or Test Report. EN 60950 This standard is closer to IEC 60950 than most other country or regional ITE standards. If the client has requested testing to include any EU county differences, the CB Cert/Report will generally list EN 60950 as well as the required IEC 60950. However, if one requests testing to all 34 country differences cited in the CB Bulletins, this will usually be described in an Appendix, as there are too many separate standards to list individually on the Cert. or page 1 of the Report. Note that most of the 34 countries do not list any diffences to IEC 60950. Nordics Nordic compliance is based on EN 60950 and EMKO-TSE(74-SEC)207/94. These combine to make up the "differences" to IEC 60950. There is reciprocal agreement between Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, viz. the Nordic Certification Service (NCS) agreement. An approval from any one country agency with "notification" to the others is sufficient to obtain the remaining country certificates. For example, if a CB Cert/Report is submitted to one Nordic agency (e.g. FIMKO), all four certifications can be obtained via the NCS. IEC/EN 60825 If your product contains a laser or LED's, you may be subject to conformity to this laser safety standard. This can be incorporated in a CB evaluation and will be listed on the CB Certificate. Associated Requirements So, now that your product has been tested to IEC 60950 and any listed "country differences", you are approved to market, right? Not quite. Many countries have "other" pre-marketing or import requirements. These may include: - ergonomics (e.g. Germany) - translated manual(s) - environmental issues (e.g. Western/Eastern Europe) - local language power rating label (e.g. China and Taiwan) - banned or "undesirable" chemicals in plastics or supplies - initial factory inspection (UL, CSA, TUV, SAIQ, etc.....) - a quality manufacturing system (e.g. Belorus' BelGIS) - EMC data or testing (CE mark for EU, China, etc....) - and so on........ Happy certifications!! Regards, George Alspaugh Product Safety Lexmark International Inc. "Passion for printing ideas." --------- This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list. To cancel your subscription, send mail to [email protected] with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the quotes). For help, send mail to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected] (the list administrators).
