CE Mark

[Roderick]

Buyer beware:

http://www.icqc.co.uk/en/china-export.php

[itiba]

I thought that until a few months ago when I saw it on a data sheet. Someone better tell Vari-light ... (PDF ~ Bottom of Page 2)

[paulears]

It's been this way for years. When ordering from Chinese factories, they print whatever you ask for. Mind you - proof houses charge quite a bit for the certification testing and documentation, and when people import container loads of product for silly money, the notion that a product selling for pennies has had a European conformality test is a bit silly really. The kinds of products we talk about here have very short shelf-lives before the design changes, and I doubt any have really been tested. The other aspect is the actual manufacturing process. A cottage industry, with Room 1 making housings (plus lots of totally different products) in their plastic moulding machine, Room 2 making wiring looms, Room 3 PCBs, Room 4 servo boards, Room 5 Eprom programming, Room 6 optics, Room 7 ballasts etc etc. Even if there was a genuine CE mark it would be for just one component - maybe the case. They frequently advertise items they have not yet even made - but know they can. If they hit on a popular product by luck, they simply place the orders, get the bits and screw them together.

[d_korman]

Note that there is not necessarily a requirement to use an external testing house to test CE conformity. Depending on the type of product, the manufacturer can do the tests himself (or not) and then put the CE mark on the product to say that it conforms. If he's cheating no one will know unless someone does some independent testing and follows the results up with legal action of some sort:

 

From the UK government website at CE Marking

 

"A product’s compliance with EU legislation

 

CE marking is a key indicator of a product’s compliance with EU legislation and enables the free movement of products within the European market. By affixing the CE marking on a product, a manufacturer is declaring, on his sole responsibility [my emphasis], conformity with all of the legal requirements to achieve CE marking and therefore ensuring validity for that product to be sold throughout the EEA, the 27 member states of the EU and European Free Trade Association countries - Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Turkey. This also applies to products made in third countries which are sold in the EEA and Turkey. However, not all products must bear the CE marking. Only those product categories subject to specific directives that provide for the CE marking are required to be CE marked.

 

CE marking does not indicate that a product was made in the EEA, but merely states that the product is assessed before being placed on the market and thus satisfies the legislative requirements, eg a harmonised level of safety, to be sold there. It means that the manufacturer has verified that the product complies with all relevant essential requirements, eg health and safety requirements, of the applicable directive(s) or, if stipulated in the directive(s), had it examined by a notified conformity assessment body.

 

It is the manufacturer’s responsibility to:

 

carry out the conformity assessment

set up the technical file

issue the EC Declaration of Conformity (DoC)

affix CE marking on a product

 

Distributors must verify the presence of both the CE marking and the necessary supporting documentation. If the product is being imported from a third country, the importer has to verify that the manufacturer outside the EU has undertaken the necessary steps and that the documentation is available upon request."

[Brian]

The story referred to in the original post is a myth.

 

Statement from the EU.

[sleah]

The story referred to in the original post is a myth.

 

Statement from the EU.

 

I always thought it was just someone making a joke about the misuse of the CE mark, as opposed to manufacturers actually using it to mean 'China Export'

[Jivemaster]

The issue often is that the body responsible for placing the item on the EC market is often a straw company, something like XY Marketing. The person or company placing an item on the EC market is responsible for conformance,

 

The other weasely phrase is "made to conform to..." it may not ever have been tested to any standard.

 

With the sheer bulk of trade with China we may as well admit that we take whatever they send whether or not it complies.