Manufacturers cannot side-step liability by claiming ignorance. The manufacture is solely responsible for any product they place on the market, with or without the correct power cord.
From: Douglas Powell <doug...@gmail.com> Sent: Friday, August 11, 2023 7:53 AM To: EMC-PSTC@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG Subject: Re: [PSES] Friday Question - Line Cords in China I believe you are correct. Simply shipping the wrong cord types to certain locations is actually prohibited, and in general, including incorrect types could be viewed as endorsement of their use in other areas. A thing that should be simple, now gets complicated. On occasion, I've heard manufacturers say things like "I've heard of this but have no official knowledge that it's true", as a way to side step liability. I'm not certain this is considered a valid argument, should someone be injured. While it's convenient and sometimes cost effective to make shipping kits more generic, I usually recommend including in BOMs some indicator of the ISO Alpha-2 or ISO Alpha-3 country code and make kits so the correct materials are included for the location involved. I find that, although seemingly simple, it's very easy to get tripped up over such matters. I've also had difficulty in the past with multi-language labeling, i.e. combined language labels. In certain countries people become offended if the wrong language is on products along side their own language. In this case I'm thinking of a 4-language label I once used. Best regards, Doug Douglas E Powell Laporte, Colorado USA On Fri, Aug 11, 2023, 8:27 AM Chas Grasso <charles.gra...@dish.com <mailto:charles.gra...@dish.com> > wrote: Hello Doug - Wow I had no idea that this issue existed. Thanks for bringing it up! As I understand that the inclusion of incorrect cords in a package spreads the incorrect conclusion that ALL of the cords are suitable for use. Did I get that right? On Fri, Aug 11, 2023 at 8:00 AM Douglas Powell <doug...@gmail.com <mailto:doug...@gmail.com> > wrote: This message originated outside of DISH and was sent by: doug...@gmail.com <mailto:doug...@gmail.com> _____ All, I was talking with a client recently about shipping line cords to various countries around the world and how some do not allow the incorrect cords within a shipment while others do. Brazil, as far as I know, does not permit incorrect cordage. Argentina, Australia, and China (PRC) are all mutually exclusive. South Africa and India are mutually exclusive. Japan, Taiwan, and the United States are all mutually exclusive. If not prohibited, it is frequently cheaper to include multiple cords rather than create multiple regional SKUs when products are in low-volume production. That said, apparently the China market often likes to use US-style receptacles (types A or B), even though they use 220 V (😬). The US-style plug has better density (twice as many receptacles in the same space as the China receptacle (Type C, or I ?), and with the US receptacles, there are many more aftermarket cable options available. So I suppose that's my question: "Is this usage typical in China?" Of course, the big issue is that the US plug is not rated for the higher voltages, even though historically some people may say it works. I even fouind a website that shows this, https://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/electricity.htm I believe it is critical for manufacturers to not condone the use of the US plug in this manner, which appears to be common practice. And I usually advise that this type of usage should never be described, recommended, or mentioned in any manuals, brochures, or other written material produced by a company, either externally or internally. If anyone is injured and an investigation reveals agreement with this usage, the company may be held liable. Thoughts?? -Doug Douglas E Powell Laporte, Colorado, USA <mailto:doug...@gmail.com> doug...@gmail.com <https://www.linkedin.com/in/coloradocomplianceguy/> LinkedIn (UTC-06:00, US-MDT) _____ This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: https://www.mail-archive.com/emc-pstc@listserv.ieee.org/ Website: https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pses/ <https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pses/> Instructions: https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pses/list.html (including how to unsubscribe) <https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pses/list.html> List rules: https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pses/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Mike Sherman at: msherma...@comcast.net <mailto:msherma...@comcast.net> Rick Linford at: linf...@ieee.org <mailto:linf...@ieee.org> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher at: j.bac...@ieee.org <mailto:j.bac...@ieee.org> _____ To unsubscribe from the EMC-PSTC list, click the following link: https://listserv.ieee.org/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=EMC-PSTC <https://listserv.ieee.org/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=EMC-PSTC&A=1> &A=1 -- Charles Grasso Dish Technologies (c) 303-204-2974 (w) 303-706-5467 (h) 303-317-5530 (e ) charles.gra...@dish.com <mailto:charles.gra...@dish.com> (e2) chasgra...@gmail.com <mailto:chasgra...@gmail.com> _____ This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: https://www.mail-archive.com/emc-pstc@listserv.ieee.org/ <https://www.mail-archive.com/emc-pstc@listserv.ieee.org/%20> Website: https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pses/ <https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pses/> Instructions: https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pses/list.html (including how to unsubscribe) <https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pses/list.html> List rules: https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pses/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Mike Sherman at: msherma...@comcast.net <mailto:msherma...@comcast.net> Rick Linford at: linf...@ieee.org <mailto:linf...@ieee.org> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher at: j.bac...@ieee.org <mailto:j.bac...@ieee.org> _____ To unsubscribe from the EMC-PSTC list, click the following link: https://listserv.ieee.org/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=EMC-PSTC <https://listserv.ieee.org/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=EMC-PSTC&A=1> &A=1 - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. 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