Only the CE mark is mandatory in the EU. All other marks (for equipment covered by the CE marking directives, at least) are optional, but they can have market advantages and assist with product liability insurance.
In the days before the CE mark, some EU countries required vendors of electrical equipment to have their products tested by a state or commercial test house before they could legally be sold in their territory. The CB Scheme was partly invented as a means of helping to sustain the business models of the organisations which previously made a living from mandatory testing once self-certification was introduced under the Low Voltage Directive. The primary value of the CB scheme is that if you are of a mind to obtain approvals in a number of different territories then it can avoid the need for expensive testing to be repeated in every case. Because the scheme extends worldwide, it has particular value to vendors selling in multiple non-EU markets where third party testing is still mandatory since it allows a manufacturer to get testing done in their own territory (or another where they are already familiar with the requirements, language etc.) and to a large extent avoid having to working with unknown quantities on the other side of the plant. Nick. At 09:46 -0600 17/11/08, Doug Kramer wrote: >In looking over some information for a customer, I came back to the >IEC's IECEE section of their website. >"The fundamental principle of the CB Scheme is that a manufacturer >can obtain a CB Test Certificate for a defined product, from a >national certification body (NCB). The manufacturer can then present >this certificate to the NCBs in other member countries whose >certification marks he wants for his products. >The CB Scheme is based on the principle of mutual recognition by its >members of test certificates for the purpose of issuing third-party >certification marks at national level. The members of the scheme >commit themselves to recognize the CB Test Certificate issued by any >Certification Body accepted by the CMC to operate within the scheme. >An essential part of this is peer assessment. Experience shows that >in addition to promoting confidence among the members of the CB >Scheme, Peer Assessment, as a method to verify competence and build >confidence is accepted by authorities and clients of testing and >certification bodies as having at the least same value as >accreditation." (http://www.iec.ch/conformity/ab_iecee.htm) >I thought that manufacturers testing using harmonized standards >(when available) was a correct route to demonstrating compliance to >the EU directives and that CE-marking was only mark needed. Am I >getting marking confused with national and international levels? >And what would be an example of a difference? >It also seems that the CB-scheme is promoting as an alternative to >accreditation? > >Thoughts and comments? > >Thanks! > >Doug Kramer > >- - 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 emc-p...@ieee.org All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <emcp...@ptcnh.net> Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: <j.bac...@ieee.org> David Heald: <dhe...@gmail.com>
