Compliance questions

Latest questions in Compliance

• Which Canadian safety marks are accepted on a charger: cUL, CSA or ETL? Canada requires electrical products to be certified by a certification body accredited by the Standards Council of Canada.
• After a failed test, when is a retest enough and when is a redesign needed? A retest is justified only if you can show that the failure came from a test or sample error and not from the design.
• What are an NRTL and an SCC-accredited body, and why do they matter for chargers? An NRTL is a laboratory recognized by OSHA to test and certify products to US safety standards, and an SCC-accredited certification body is recognized in Canada for electrical products.
• What should a recall-ready traceability file contain for a charger? It should let you answer quickly which units are affected, where they are and who has them.
• Is FCC Form 740 still required for a charger shipment into the US? No.
• What goes into an FCC supplier’s declaration of conformity file for a USB charger? Under FCC rules, Class B external switching power supplies can be authorized by SDoC or certification.
• Does a charger sold in Canada need bilingual English and French labelling? For prepackaged consumer products, Canada's Consumer Packaging and Labelling rules require certain information, such as the product identity and net quantity, to be shown in both English and French.
• What is the difference between a pre-production sample and a production sample in test records? A pre-production sample is built before mass production to confirm the design, tooling and process, and may still have hand-made parts or trial settings.
• What does the Roman numeral on a charger label, such as VI, mean for US energy rules? The numeral shows which efficiency level the external power supply is declared to meet.
• What decides how long a safety certification takes, and how can it be planned around? The time depends on how ready the product and documents are, the lab's queue, the number of tests and standards, whether tests fail and whether a factory inspection is needed.
• Do California’s battery-charger efficiency rules affect a charger sold online to California buyers? Possibly.
• How many samples should be sent to a test lab, and what should be recorded for each? Send the number of units the lab lists in writing, with a few spares, and give each unit a unique ID.
• How can a buyer check that a UL, ETL or CSA listing on a charger is real? Look up the listing yourself in the certification body's public directory, using the file or certificate number and model name, and check that the manufacturer, model, ratings and status match your product.
• How should a brand track certificate renewal dates so nothing lapses? Keep one register of every certificate with its model, issuer, number, dates and owner, set reminders well before each date and tie renewals and follow-up inspections to named people.
• What must an importer report to Health Canada if a charger is linked to a fire or injury? Under section 14 of the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, an importer must report an incident to Health Canada and to the person who supplied the product.
• How should a charger model-numbering scheme be set up so certificates and variants stay traceable? Use a simple structure with a base model number for the electrical design, separate suffixes for plug type and colour and a clear rule for when a change needs a new number.
• Does a charger imported into the US need a country-of-origin mark? Under US customs marking law, imported articles must generally be marked with the English name of the country of origin, in a conspicuous place, in a legible and permanent way, so that the final buyer can see it.
• How long should QC records be kept so a recall can be traced to a batch? Give every batch a code, link it to the components and inspection records and keep them for the whole sale life of the product plus a safe margin that covers warranty and liability.
• What documents does a Canadian retailer usually ask a charger supplier for? Expect requests for proof of electrical safety certification from a recognised Canadian body, evidence of energy efficiency compliance where it applies, bilingual labelling and packaging, any radio-equipment documents and your contact and recall procedures.
• How long should a charger maker keep technical files and test reports? Keep them for as long as the product is sold and for a comfortable period after, covering warranty claims and any questions from regulators or retailers.