Product certification
Examples of some certification schemes include the Safety Equipment Institute (SEI) for PPE, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Telecommunication Certification Body (TCB) program for radio communication devices, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star program, the International Commission on the Rules for the Approval of Electrical Equipment Product Safety Certification Body Scheme (IEECE CB Scheme), MAS (Materials Analytical Services) Certified Green IEQ program, and the Greenguard Environmental Institute Indoor Air Quality program.
For example, certification is stringent in aerospace applications, since the demands for low weight tend to lead to high stress on components, requiring appropriate metallurgy and accuracy in manufacturing.
The resulting data collected by the testing laboratory, and is then forwarded either back to the manufacturer, or directly to the product certifier.
Other examples of Surveillance activities include surprise audits of the manufacturing plant, supervision of the manufacturing and/or testing process,[7] or a simple paperwork submittal from the supplier to the product certifier to ensure that the certified product has not changed.
Other causes for recertification may include complaints issued against the product's functionality, which would require removal from the marketplace, and expiration of the original certification.
Some certification schemes, or the product certifiers that operate those Schemes, may require that the product supplier operate a Quality Management System registered to ISO 9000, or that the testing be performed by a laboratory accredited to ISO 17025.
[8] The decision to set these requirements is most often made by the person or group which owns the Certification Scheme.
An active certification listing must minimally include indication of[1] the following information: Product certifiers may choose to include much more information than that listed above, but ISO 17065 specifies the bare minimum which must be made available regarding the certification status of a product.
In the United States, this certification was once called "type acceptance" by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and applied to most services except amateur radio due to its inherent homebrew nature.
These listings are current as of March 2012, but will likely change in the future as more Accreditation Bodies undergo the required peer evaluations in order to become signatory members of the MLA.
If you are a manufacturer it is your responsibility to: If you are a distributor you must check the presence of both the CE marking and the necessary supporting documentation.
This article incorporates text published under the British Open Government Licence: Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (8 October 2012).
