UK testing bodies and accredited certification laboratories can help manufacturers to reach new markets worldwide and cope with changes to existing regulations.
Ensuring that UK manufacturers continue to have global reach for their products is an important role for testing bodies such as UL, TÜV SÜD and many other test houses. With libraries of all relevant standards, which are constantly updated, they can provide manufacturers with the information they need to gain and maintain compliance.
Recently, the Eurasian Customs Union of Russia and some of its neighbours updated the requirements for obtaining the all important EAC label (the ECU equivalent of CE labelling) for product market approval in the region. From the 1st March, it’s necessary to comply with the Russian RoHS requirements (Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances) as well as providing proof of the electromagnetic compatibility of a product.
First introduced in 2018, the requirements are defined in the Technical Regulation 037/2106 and binding after the two year transition period on March 1, 2020.
This change applies to a large number of product groups, including telecommunications equipment, computers and their peripherals, domestic electrical appliances and devices with wireless charging function.
The good news is that the prescribed test scope is based on the EU Directive 2011/65/EU ROHS 2 and EEE and the Russian standard (GOST EN 50581-2016) is identical to the two European standards EN50581:2012 and EN 62321 and the specifications on RoHS.
The change applies retrospectively to devices that have already been approved for the Russian market so RoHS conformity must also be provided for products already bearing an EAC label, so that they can continue to be sold on the Russian market and in the Eurasian Economic Union.
Staying on top of such changes in both the Eurasian Customs Union and other large markets in the world is complex, time consuming and prone to expensive errors. Test house expertise along with the constant access to updates for global standards makes them a valuable resource for any manufacturer planning to take technology products into new global markets.
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