TRaC hosts CB scheme seminar in association with IECEE

The UK National Committee of the IECEE assisted TRaC in organising a workshop for UK industry entitled 'The IECEE CB Scheme as an Export Tool'.  The half-day workshop was held on June 26 in conjunction with the main IECEE CB conference that took place on June 27 & 28 at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel in Hayes, Middlesex.  

The half day workshop included presentations on national market access programs including those for China, South America, North America and Europe.
The theme of the industry workshop was 'Compliance for Export', and a host of international speakers (including China, Mexico, the USA and the UK) gave presentations on the requirements of National Certification Bodies (NCBs) in individual countries from both Certification Body and industry perspectives.

This presented a rare opportunity for UK industry to receive information from national and regional experts about the product safety regulations operating in those target export markets countries. The UK NCBs raised awareness of the benefits of CB certification when exporting UK manufactured products into markets which they have not sold into before.

The IECEE is the IEC System for Conformity testing and Certification of Electrotechnical Equipment and Components. It is a system for mutual recognition of certificates of conformity and also a tool to access the worldwide markets directly, when national authorities and regulators, retailers, buyers and vendors accept the CB test certificate and associated test report.

While fully compatible with mandatory CE marking for Europe, the CB scheme is entirely voluntary and certifies that an independent third party has tested the product to confirm that it is fully compliant for electrical safety and/or EMC. The added benefit of the third party aspect of the CB scheme is that test results from that third party are recognised by all CB scheme members around the world where self-certified reports under CE marking are often insufficient to meet local market needs.

The CB test laboratories will test for things like protection from electric shock and prevention of fire and mechanical hazard, among others. The tests are outlined in published IEC standards that specify what manufacturers and CB testers need to do. The scheme has been going for more than 30 years and is widely respected. What it means is that a manufacturer can have a product tested in the UK by an NCB, which issues a universally acceptable report and certificate on completion of successful testing. The manufacturer can then take that certificate and have the product certified anywhere else in the world without having to have it tested again in different countries. In the past, a manufacturer would have had to submit products and drawings to testing bodies in every country they wanted to sell the product into.  

To download presentations from this seminar please click here.