Hi Ron, The requirement for most customers, especially telecommunications providers, is that the product be LISTED or RECOGNIZED to comply with the safety standards of concern. The most important being UL1950 and NEBS. To be listed and participate in continuing compliance (required) you must use the logo of the certification laboratory, such as ETL, MET, UL, etc. The listing number is also required in close proximity to the logo. (Since this is a legal requirement with the lab, it is a "badge of quality" on the product, which should be appreciated by your marketing department!)
I am told that there are changes "afoot" to allow manufacturers to self certify to these requirements, however my experience shows that most of our customers will not accept self certification. Regards, Don Don Robert House, SMTS Product Certification & Regulatory Compliance Excelsus Technologies, Inc. 2875 Loker Avenue East Carlsbad, CA 92008-6626 USA (760) 918-2552 Office/Lab (760) 476-1519 FAX URL: http://www.excelsus-tech.com -----Original Message----- From: Ron Pickard [mailto:rpick...@hypercom.com] Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 11:52 AM To: Courtland Thomas Cc: emc-p...@majordomo.ieee.org; owner-emc-p...@ieee.org Subject: Re: Product Marking Hi Courtland, You asked: >I have a question concerning labeling a product. If we go to a NRTL and get >Safety testing performed, we typically put the Safety logo (UL for example) >on the product label. Our marketing people have a problem with having >different logo's. They would like to standarize on a single logo such as UL. >This kind of thinking hinders the process of getting the best price >possible. I would like to get the testing performed at a lab which doesn't >use UL. Would it be possible to just put "Conforms to UL 1950 and CAN/CSA >1950" on the label and forget the logo? Or is there a requirement to have a >logo? Exactly what will "Conforms to UL1950 and CSA 1950" mean to your customers, given that they are unfamiliar with your products and knowers of the law? Personally, I would not believe it since a NRTL mark is not present (not legal in the workplace environment) and especially since I believe you were referring CSA C22.2 No. 950-95. I'm curious, do you switch NRTLs because one is cheaper (um, less expensive) than another? In my experience, I like to stick with a single NRTL. They get to know me, I get to know them, and we both get a good working relationship and respect out of the deal. This is worth far more than a few bucks saved by switching NRTLs. Here in the US, such practice is mandated by US law in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), specifically 29 CFR Part 2910 Subpart S. These federal regulations come from OSHA and the US Dept. of Labor and can be viewed on-line at: http://www.osha-slc.gov/OshStd_toc/OSHA_Std_toc_1910_SUBPART_S.html BTW, 1910.399(a) gives 3 routes to compliance: 1. Listing by a NRTL, 2. Inspection by a local municipal inspector of every installation*, or 3. For custom-made equipment, test data must be made available for inspection by the Asst. Secretary of Labor. * will likely fall back to a NRTL anyway due to the inspector's lack of technical expertise. IMHO, I do believe that choice #1 would be the path of least resistance. And, why would anyone willingly invite the government into their organization? (rhetorical question here) Also, the US National Electric Code (NEC) requires NRTL listing of products. I am very sure that Canada has a similar system in place requiring product certification. >Thanks, No problem. I hope this helps. Best regards, Ron Pickard rpick...@hypercom.com ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. To cancel your subscription, send mail to: majord...@ieee.org with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Jim Bacher: jim_bac...@mail.monarch.com Michael Garretson: pstc_ad...@garretson.org For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. To cancel your subscription, send mail to: majord...@ieee.org with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Jim Bacher: jim_bac...@mail.monarch.com Michael Garretson: pstc_ad...@garretson.org For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: ri...@ieee.org
