As I have previously babbled, a Declaration of Conformity (by itself) has no meaning. Get the CB and/or agency test report and note test conditions. If a CE-marked unit has no Certificate from TUV, VDE, etc; then try to find another supplier.
The standard(s) listed on the certificate will theoretically provide the basic test conditions. If your supplier's Compliance Engineer cannot define specific test conditions, find another... Customers that "fail" my units during EMC or safety testing typically are not performing the test correctly or the end-use installation violates Conditions of Acceptability. I never speak for my employer. Brian -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 11:41 AM To: [email protected] Subject: When CE doesn't pass Has this ever happened to you? We manufacture analysis instrumentation equipment. The part we make is usually part of a complex system made up of other CE marked equipment from many different suppliers. Sometimes when we have a system tested for CE (emissions and immunity), one of the other companies pieces of equipment will cause the "system" to fail. I have seen some test labs identify the failing piece of equipment, write it up in the report and say it is not our problem because our equipment passes AND it is not contributing to the failure. But, what if we are selling the "system" including the CE Marked products that failed when we had it tested? It doesn't always do us much good to go to the manufacturer of the failing equipment because they will usually say that it passes when they tests it. If we were a PC manufacturer and had trouble with a printer or a monitor we could just find another one, but the equipment in our systems are more unique. There may only be 1 or 2 manufacturers of such a device and we don't have much of a choice. So here is my question. Can we sell a "system" that includes a CE marked peripheral that we have no design control over, that fails when WE have it tested?
