Supervising Certification

Product certification demonstrates compliance to a given standard and usually includes the right to apply a certification mark to the certified product. This assures retailers and consumers of its status. Given the importance of certification, it is important that the use of the certification mark is supervised.

Why Is Product Certification Supervised?
Product certification involves annual factory inspections as well as supervision to ensure that the high standards satisfied in achieving certification are maintained throughout the period of the certificate’s validity.

If a manufacturer wants to use a certification mark, the product being marketed must be identical to the tested and certified product. The aim of supervision is to ensure that this is the case and it is one of the basic requirements of product certifications, as per international standard ISO/IEC/EN 17065.

Supervision ensures that the certification and the certification mark can be relied upon, and that quality is high. This benefits all parties – customers, manufacturers, retailers, fitters and users.

The most common and important supervisory methods include:
• Factory inspections
• Surveillance tests – for example: ENEC certification requires the manufacturer and certifying body to conduct regular tests; under the FI system, critical products are chosen for testing
• Visiting shops and wholesale distributors
• Internet surveillance

Surveillance Findings
SGS Fimko in Finland certifies more than 5,000 electrical and electronic products annually. The company conducts audits, verifies policies and processes, issues certification and makes recommendations to standards bodies. Typical certifications include:
• FI certification (the right to use the FI and/or SGS FI mark)
• GS certification (the right to use the SGS GS mark)
• ENEC certification (the right to use the ENEC 16 and/or ENEC 16 FI mark)

Surveillance can reveal that products bearing the FI/SGS GS/ENEC 16 mark are not identical to those tested and certified. For example, modified products are not certified and may not use or display a certification mark, either on the product itself or in marketing and sales materials.

If modifications have not been notified to, or have been rejected by, the certifying body, this constitutes misuse of the certification mark. Common product modifications include:
• Critical safety components are modified but do not necessarily fulfill the relevant requirements
• Critical safety materials are modified and do not necessarily fulfill the requirements for isolation or fire behavior
• The design of the product has been modified, which may cause a potential safety risk (e.g. isolation distances are too small, which may cause an electric shock)
• Model designations or technical specifications have been changed – markings are not identical to the certified product

If modifications have not been accepted, the product may not even meet the requirements set in the Low Voltage Directive.

How SGS Can Help
SGS monitors thousands of products each year, and misuse of certifications can be rectified in a number of ways: by discontinuing the certification symbol on a product; withdrawing certification; and/or applying financial sanctions.

For further information on our Electrical & Electronic product certification services, visit SGS's Electrical and Electronics website, or contact:

Tom Törn
Certification Director
SGS Fimko Ltd.
t: +358 9 696 3475

Email: cts.media@sgs.com
Website: www.sgs.com/ee

About SGS
SGS is the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 90,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 2,000 offices and laboratories around the world.

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This release was published on openPR.