Safety Testing

1. What is Safety?

The increase of the electrical equipment in homes, offices, hospitals and industrial areas makes it so important to protect human life and property from fire, electric shock, injury and hazardous radiation energy. Consequently, manufacturers of many industries including information and communication equipment, medical equipment, home appliances and industrial machinery, etc. are able to enter the market only if they meet safety standards and regulations in each country.

Fire hazards, electrical shock, injury, energy, radiation and mechanical/chemical risk caused by overheating, electrical leakage current, insulation aging, radiation, UV radiation, and mechanical risk from electronic products threatens human life and property. As a result, countries around the world makes it mandatory to conduct safety tests and all appliances on the market have to demonstrate safety through testing in accordance with the safety standards of your country.

The compliance of safety standards is mandatory in major worldwide markets. Safety test is an essential process to meet the legal requirements and reduce the risk from the product.

2. Main Test items in Safety

No.	Name of test items	Summary of test
1	Input test	During normal operation, it is to test/evaluate whether the rated current or rated power indicated on the label is within the appropriate range specified in the standard.
2	Heating test	In normal operation, it is to test/evaluate whether the temperature measured on the exterior and internal components of the product meets the limit values specified in the standard.
3	Withstanding voltage test	It is to test/evaluate the insulation performance of the insulation materials used inside/outside the product.
4	Leakage current test (or touch current test)	It is to test/evaluate whether the current leaking from the product is safe from the risk of electric shock.
5	Abnormal operation test	After reviewing the possibility of abnormal operation of the product, it is to test/evaluate whether the product is safe in the abnormal operation condition by making an artificial defect state.
6	Fault condition test	After reviewing the possibility of fault, it is to test/evaluate whether the product is safe from the risks of electric shock and fire by electrically shorting or opening the electrical component or protection device in the circuit of the product.
7	Ball pressure test	It is to test/evaluate the softening temperature and accelerated material flow under loading of polymeric materials and parts of end product in their ability to resist abnormal heat.
8	Flammability test	This is to test/evaluation the flame retardancy of plastic materials that are vulnerable to fire, and the flammability class is graded according to its own extinguishing time.
9	Glow wire test	This is a test to evaluate the flame retardancy of plastic enclosures of end product and plastic materials supporting current-carrying conductors, which are susceptible to fire. When the glow wire according to the temperature specified in the standard is applied to the specimen, the suitability is evaluated by the height of the generated flame and the self-extinguishing time.
10	Needle flame test	It is to simulate the effect of a small flame which may result from fault conditions, in order to assess by a simulation technique the fire hazard, and this test is applied to electrotechnical equipment, its sub-assemblies and components and to solid electrical insulating materials or other combustible materials.
11	Tracking resistance test	It is to test for the determination of the proof and comparative tracking indices of plastic insulating materials on pieces taken from parts of product and on the prescribed specimens using AC voltages. In addition, this test is a test to find out the voltage generated by tracking when 50 drops of the test solution is dropped on the specimen, and this result is used as a factor in determining the creepage distance.

3. Major test equipment


(Power Meter)	(Earth continuity tester)	(Withstanding voltage tester)

(Leakage current tester)	(Environmental chamber)	(Tracking tester)

(Flammability tester)	(Glow wire tester)	(Needle flame tester)

(Power source, 80 kVA)	(Walk-in chamber)

4. Certification Schemes

Certification Schemes

Process / Contents

(Vietnam / CR certification)

(1) Scopes

1) QCVN 4: Household appliances

2) QCVN 19: LED luminaires

(2) The period of validity of certification

1) Method 1: 3 years

2) Method 5: 3 years (maintaining certification through F/U inspection)

3) Method 7: Valid for the batch only.

(3) Certification methods

QCVN 19

QCVN 4

Method 1 (Type test)

Method 7 (Lot test)

Method 5 (Type test + F.I + F/U inspection)

▪ Application form

▪ Product description (product name, specifications)

▪ Circuit diagram, schematic diagram, a block diagram

▪ Photos (whole product, nameplate, product inside, critical components)

▪ User’s manual, installation manual (if available)

▪ QC or Quality inspection report or technical documents that indicated the name and address of the manufacturer

▪ Application form

▪ Business registration certificate of the manufacturer or the importer

▪ Catalog or product specification sheet

▪ Customs clearance documents of the shipment, including customs clearance declaration, goods manifest, a purchase order (PO) or commercial contract, bill of lading (Waybill), certificate of origin (CO)

▪ Application form

▪ Certificate of business registration of the manufacturer

▪ Certificate of product trademark registration;

▪ Catalog or product specification sheet, test report

▪ OEM or ODM contract if the product is OEM or ODM production

▪ Documentation related to the factory's product quality management system (this is not a mandatory requirement but can make the factory audit process faster)

Normally, the factory assessment process will take place in 2 ~ 4 working days. If the factory's product quality management system meets the requirements and the product testing passes, the certification body will complete the evaluation.

(Korea / KC Certification)

(1) Safety certification program

1) The manufacturer or importer of a product that is subject to the requirement of safety certification must receive the safety certification as per the Decree by the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy. This program also requires that the factory must be inspected in order to ensure that the product's quality can be maintained, as well as the inspection of the products themselves for their compliance with safety criteria so that the safety of the product in question can be verified before it is shipped.

2) Regular inspections
To confirm that the safety-certified products can maintain their safety, regular inspections for the products, production equipment, inspection instruments, and technical capabilities are to be inspected every two years. And, during the regular inspection, a factory inspection and product test must be conducted, while the product tests are to be conducted by sampling each type of certified products for their safety.

(2) Safety confirmation reporting program
In this program, the manufacturer or importer of the products subject to safety confirmation requirements has each model of the products subject to safety confirmation requirements tested by a safety confirmation testing agency for its safety confirmation, to voluntarily confirm and report that the applicable electrical appliance conforms with the safety standard.
The manufacturer or importer who wishes to file a safety confirmation report for a product subject to safety confirmation requirements shall, before the shipping or customs clearance of such a product, submit a safety confirmation report to a safety certification body along with the following enclosures; In such a case, a manufacturer that is located overseas may have an agent located in South Korea submit the safety confirmation report on her behalf.

(3) Supplier Qualification Confirmation Report
The manufacturer or importer of a product requiring supplier conformance confirmation shall conduct product testing for each model before releasing the product into the market or going through customs clearance or have a third party conduct such a test to voluntarily confirm the safety of the product as per the safety standard. In such a case, the manufacturer or importer of the product shall prepare a supplier conformance confirmation test report or a supplier conformance certificate.

(The process of supplier conformance confirmation)

(China / CCC certification)

(1) Introduction

CCC is a compulsory certification scheme, including product inspection, which has been conducted since 2001 to protect consumers in China.

If any product produced in China or exported to China is subject to compulsory certification, it must be certified safe and quality in accordance with IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) and Chinese national standards.

(2) Product scope

- Wire and cable (5 types)	- Communication device (9 types)
- Switch, electrical appliances for protection and connection (6 types)	- Medical device (7 types)
- Low voltage Electrical appliance (9 types)	- Wireless LAN product (1 type)
- Low power motor (1 type)	- Safety glass (3 types)
- Power tool (16 types)	- Interior (3 types)
- Welder (15 types)	- Children (7 types)
- Household appliances (18 types)	- Automotive and safety accessory (16 types)
- Audio and video equipment (12 types)	- Tires (3 types)
- Information devices (12 types)	- Agricultural tools (2 types)
- Lighting (2 types)	- Fire-fighting products (15 types)
- Latex product (1 type)	- Safety facility (5 types)

(3) Certification process

Application to the certification body ⇨ Document review ⇨ Type test ⇨ Factory audit ⇨ Comprehensive evaluation of the certification body ⇨ Issuance of certificates and certification marks ⇨ Post-Inspection and Management

(Europe / CE marking)

(1) Introduction

CE stands for “Conformité Européenne”, which in practice means that it “conforms to European directives”. CE marking of a product means that it complies with the legal requirements placed on the product within the EEA and therefore can be sold there. The manufacturer or their authorized representative gives the product its CE marking and is liable for ensuring that the product complies with the requirements of the directives.

(2) EU Directives

For electrical and electronic products the below 10 directives are the most commonly used:

▪ Low Voltage Directive (LVD) 2014/35/EU

▪ EMC Directive 2014/30/EU

▪ Radio Equipment Directive (RED) 2014/53/EU

▪ Restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances (RoHS), Directive 2011/65/EU

▪ Energy related Products Directive (ErP) 2009/125/EC

▪ Maritime Equipment Directive (MED) 2014/90/EU

▪ Equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres (ATEX) 2014/34/EU

▪ Medical Device Regulation (MDR) 2017/745/EU

▪ Construction Products Regulation 305/2011/EU (CPR)

▪ Machinery Directive (MD) 2006/42/EC

(3) DoC and CoC for CE marking

1) DoC: It means a declaration of conformity, which is usually submitted in a form made by the manufacturer itself. Product testing can be carried out by the manufacturer itself or by using a testing laboratory to test according to the specified specifications. (However, in general, the manufacturer does not have the facilities and manpower that can test according to the standard, so a test laboratory is used.)

2) CoC: It means a certificate of conformity, and is usually issued by testing a product based on the test standards prescribed by a testing laboratory designated by the competent authority (ex: Notified Body).

5. Certification Marks Supportable

Regional	Country / Certification name
Asia/Oceania
	Vietnam / CR	Korea / KC	China / CCC	Japan / PSE

	Indonesia / SNI	Malaysia / SIRIM	Singapore / CPS	Thailand / TISI
		--	--	--
	Australia / RCM	--	--	--
America
	USA / UL	USA / TUV	USA / ETL	USA / MET

	Canada / CSA	Argentina / IRAM	Mexico / NOM	Chile / SEC
Europe
	EU / CE	UK / UKCA	Germany / GS	Germany / VDE

	EU / ENEC	Germany / TUV bauart	Nordic countries / FIMKO, DEMKO, NEMKO, SEMKO	France / OVE
Middle East
Middle East	Gulf countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Quatar, Bahrain, Orman) / GCC
Africa	No certification mark	No certification mark	No certification mark	--
Africa	South Africa / LOA	Ethiopia / CoC	Egypt / CoC	--