Introduction to UL Certification

UL 900 testing

UL 1995 testing

1. Introduction to UL certification agencies

UL stands for Underwriter Laboratories Inc. in English. The UL Certified Safety Testing Institute is the most authoritative and largest private organization in the United States engaged in safety testing and certification. It is an independent, non-profit professional organization that conducts experiments for public safety. It adopts scientific testing methods to study and determine whether various materials, devices, products, equipment, buildings, etc. are harmful to life and property, and the degree of harm; Determine, write, and distribute corresponding standards and materials that help reduce and prevent damage to life and property, while conducting fact finding research. In short, it mainly engages in product safety certification and business safety certification, with the ultimate goal of obtaining products with a considerable level of safety for the market and contributing to the guarantee of personal health and property safety. In terms of product safety certification as an effective means of eliminating technical barriers to international trade, UL also plays an active role in promoting the development of international trade.

UL was founded in 1894 and initially relied on funding from the fire insurance department to maintain operations until 1916, UL is fully independent. After nearly a century of development, UL has become a globally renowned certification body, with its own rigorous organizational management system, standard development, and product certification procedures. UL is managed by a council consisting of representatives from safety experts, government officials, consumers, education, utilities, insurance, and standards departments, with daily work handled by the President and Vice President. At present, UL has five laboratories in the United States, with headquarters located in Northbrook, north of Chicago, and corresponding laboratories established in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

2. UL certification process

Step 1: Apply for an Application

1. Fill out the application form

2. Apply for Company Information Form

3. Provide product information

Step 2: Quotation

Determine the testing standards, testing time, and corresponding costs based on the provided information

Step 3: Payment via Pay

After the applicant confirms the quotation, they will sign the filing application form and tracking service agreement, and pay 100% of the project fee.

Step 4: Determine the testing plan or pre-test (optional according to customer requirements) Standard and Test Method

Conduct pre testing on customers' products according to UL's testing instructions and provide guidance to the applying company to rectify them until they are qualified. The pre-test report will be sent to UL headquarters for review.

Step 5: Testing

After the UL engineer in the United States confirms the pre-test report, the engineer will go to China to conduct on-site testing of the applied product.

Step 6: Test passed, report completed, direct completion letter Notice of Completion

Step 7: First production factory inspection of IPI

Step 8: Project completion

1. Follow up service details UL Procedure

2. The factory retains the UL report

3. UL's certification service scope

The types of UL product certification and testing services can be mainly divided into listing, accreditation, and grading:

1. Listed: Generally speaking, listed products only apply to complete products and various components and devices that qualified personnel replace or install on site. Various products that belong to UL listed services include household appliances, medical equipment, computers, commercial equipment, and various electrical products that function in buildings, such as distribution systems, fuses, wires, switches, and other electrical components. Products listed by UL can usually be labeled with the UL listing symbol on each product. The usage of column name flags.

2. Recognized: Recognized services are a project in UL services, and the products identified can only be used as components or raw materials on UL listed, graded, or other recognized products. The product is not structurally complete or has certain limitations in its use to ensure the expected safety performance. In most cases, tracking services that recognize products belong to the R category. The recognized products belonging to Class L include electronic wire (AVLV2), processed wire (ZKLU2), wire harness (ZPFW2), aluminum wire (DVVR2), and metal flexible tube (DXUZ2). Approved products require approval marks.

3. Classification: Classification services only evaluate specific hazards of products, or evaluate products that comply with standards other than UL standards (including internationally recognized standards such as IEC and ISO standards). Generally speaking, most graded products are not products used by consumers, but rather products used in industry or commerce. The grading mark in the UL logo indicates that the product has certain restrictions and regulatory scope when certified by UL. For example, for chemicals such as solvents used in industry, only the range of potential fires that may occur when they reach their ignition temperature is evaluated. The grading service and listing service of certain products are the same, but generally only evaluate one or several aspects of the product. For example, in the United States, medical X-ray diagnostic equipment must comply with US laws and regulations on radiation emission and beam accuracy nationwide. However, because UL only classifies X-rays as grading products, it only evaluates their mechanical performance, electrical performance, and other non radiation performance aspects.

4. Multiple Listing, Multiple Recognition, or Multiple Grading Services: When an applicant for UL obtains the aforementioned listing, recognition, or grading services and their products need to be produced under the name of another company to meet sales needs, they can apply for multiple listing, multiple recognition, or multiple grading services. In this case, the manufacturer who is listed, recognized, or graded is allowed to use the name of another company in the product catalog, but the product must be consistent with the original listed, recognized, or graded product, except for the company code, product code, or other features that UL deems acceptable.

5. "AL" Listing, Recognition, or Grading Services: If the UL applicant does not wish to obtain listing, recognition, or grading services in the name of their own company, they may apply to apply for listing, recognition, or grading services in the name of another trade name (usually a retailer or wholesaler), which is called "AL" Listing, Recognition, or Grading Services. The difference between it and multiple listing, multiple recognition, or multiple grading services is that the applicant is not a listed person.

6. System certification services: As a member of the International Accreditation Service, UL is widely involved in ISO9000 quality system certification, ISO14000 environmental protection certification, QS9000 automotive industry quality system certification, and AS9000 aircraft industry quality system certification services. So far, a total of 116 factories in China have obtained UL system certification; Among them, 21 are ISO9001 certified, 85 are ISO9002 certified, 1 is ISO14001 certified, and 9 are QS9000 certified.

7. Other services provided by UL, such as certification services, inspection services, fact finding services, research services, etc.

4. Introduction to UL's production factory inspection services

UL's product certification and testing services are based on different products, and the inspection criteria for inspectors include bulletins, procedures, FUII (if any, included in the regulations), and UL standards (if required in FUII). If the inspector visits the factory and the factory is producing UL products or has inventory of UL products, the inspector will take samples in one of the following ways:

1. Extract various components from the production line and a complete product from the warehouse.

2. Extract various components from the warehouse and add complete products from the production line.

3. Extract complete products from the warehouse for splitting.

The specific quantity of sampling depends on the detailed rules, FUII (Tracking Inspection Instructions), SAP (Standard Appendix), or direct orders from UL laboratories. Inspectors may not necessarily inspect all products during each inspection, but they will try to inspect all product categories or models within one or at least two years.

Generally speaking, UL's requirements for the factory production system are not too high, only requiring annual measurement of instruments and equipment, keeping the factory's own inspection records, and having certain control measures for non-conforming products. During inspection, the on-site representative (UL inspector) will mainly focus on the product itself, and they will check the structure, components, and assembly of the product item by item based on the above inspection criteria. For components related to product safety, the general guidelines will specify the requirement for UL certified products and indicate the manufacturer and model; For injection molded parts such as shells and covers, the specifications generally specify their raw material and size requirements. The on-site representative will verify the above items and the UL markings specified in the regulations.

In addition, if the regulations, FUII, or standards require on-site testing of the product, the on-site representative will request the factory inspector to conduct the corresponding tests, while the on-site representative will witness it. If the detailed rules also require samples to be sent to UL for tracking testing, the factory should cooperate with the inspector to make the corresponding samples. After the inspector writes the sample label, provides the address, and seals the sample, the factory will send it to the corresponding UL laboratory. If the products produced by the factory fully meet the requirements of UL's corresponding inspection standards and there are no other violations of the tracking service agreement, the inspector will issue a tracking inspection report; The factory representative should sign the report after confirming its accuracy and correctness; One inspection is considered complete. If there is a situation during the inspection process that does not meet the inspection standards, the inspector will issue a Variation Notice, And take corresponding measures according to the specific situation.

For unauthorized products using the UL mark, the inspector will require the removal of the UL mark; For products that do not meet UL requirements, inspectors will request the factory to remove the UL mark or rework them to meet the requirements; If the factory disagrees with the above handling suggestions, the UL mark can be temporarily retained, but shipments must be stopped. The inspector will notify the corresponding laboratory of the situation, and UL will make a response to decide whether the UL mark can be retained; If there are only minor issues that do not affect the safety of the product, the inspector will make a temporary acceptance decision and report it to the corresponding laboratory; If there are some obvious standard errors, such as typing errors or unit errors, it does not affect the qualification of the factory's products, but as UL's document processing, the inspector will also issue a change notice. In general, unless it is the responsibility of UL, inspectors will require the factory to provide explanations to the corresponding laboratory for any non conformities, UL will provide a corresponding response based on your explanation. Of course, the inspector's judgment is only temporary, and the final decision rests with UL's various laboratories. If the factory disagrees with the inspection method, it can fully report to the corresponding laboratory. At this time, the inspector has the obligation to provide the corresponding contact person and contact information. After confirming that the content recorded in the change notice is correct, the factory representative should sign the notice.

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