UL was established in 1894. In the initial stage, UL mainly relied on funds provided by the Fire Insurance Department to maintain its operations. It was not until 19 16 that UL was completely self-reliant. After nearly a hundred years of development, UL has become a world-renowned certification body, with a strict organizational management system, standard setting and product certification procedures. UL is managed by a board of directors composed of safety experts, government officials, consumers, education, public utilities, insurance and standards departments, and the president and vice president are responsible for daily work. At present, UL has five laboratories in the United States, headquartered in Northbrook, north of Chicago, and set up corresponding laboratories in Taiwan Province Province and Hongkong.
UL marker and its use
Using UL's column name, classification and approval mark on products or related products is the only method designated by UL to distinguish products produced under UL tracking inspection service. The fact that a company's name appears in UL's product catalog does not mean that all products of the company are listed, graded or recognized by UL. Only products marked with UL can be considered as products produced under UL tracking inspection service.
According to the different service types of UL, UL marks can be divided into three categories, namely, column name, classification and approval marks. The most important component of these signs is UL pattern symbols, which are all registered trademarks of UL. The three symbols are used for products with three different services, and cannot be mixed, otherwise they can be identified as counterfeit products. Because hierarchical tags are rare in China, the following only introduces two tags: column name and identification. UL's service is based not only on American UL standard, but also on Canadian Standard (C-UL). Therefore, UL marks can be divided into three types: UL products and C-UL products, and they all meet the requirements.
Note: Before June 5438+10, 2008, products listed or approved by UL and C-UL can be labeled with UL and C-UL at the same time, but before 2008, the labels in the third column of the above table must be used.
The "inspection rules" point out what kind of logo you can use and where this logo should be attached to the product. The mark can only be used when the manufacturer complies with the provisions of the inspection rules and the terms of the subsequent inspection service agreement. (Paragraph 2) Unless permitted by the inspection rules, the UL logo cannot be used on products or packaging in any way. (Paragraph 3).
If your product belongs to one of UL's services and meets UL's requirements, UL allows you to quote UL's logo and U's name in sales promotion or advertising, but such reference shall not give the public a wrong impression. The simple quotation of whether the product is "listed by UL" or "approved by UL" or whether the pattern of UL logo is suitable depends on the service category it belongs to; The words and expressions of the product identification you use should be consistent with those specified in the Inspection Rules. When your product belongs to the classified service of UL, the reference words related to UL in your advertisement must quote the full text of the whole product classification mark, as stated in the Inspection Rules. Because UL may ask you to change inappropriate places in publicity or promotional advertisements, you'd better contact your UL inspection representative in advance and tell him how you intend to quote UL's logo or name. This can avoid misunderstanding, and at the same time avoid the waste caused by the cancellation of publicity and promotional advertisements because UL thinks that the advertisements are misquoted. (Paragraph 4).
UL service
UL's product certification and testing services can be divided into listing, approval and grading.
1) list: Generally speaking, the list is only applicable to complete sets of products and various devices and equipment replaced or installed by qualified personnel on site. Products listed by UL include: household appliances, medical equipment, computers, commercial equipment and various electrical products that play a role in buildings, such as power distribution systems, fuses, wires, switches and other electrical components. UL listed products can usually be marked with UL listing logo on each product. Usage of column name symbol.
2) Accreditation: Accreditation service is an item in UL service, and its certified products can only be used as components and raw materials for UL listing, classification or other accredited products. The approved product structure is incomplete, or there are certain restrictions on its use, which cannot guarantee the expected safety performance. In most cases, the tracking service of approved products belongs to category R. Approved products belonging to L category include electronic wire (AVLV2), processing wire (ZKLU2), wire harness (ZPFW2), aluminum wire (DVVR2) and flexible metal tube (DXUZ2). Approved products need approval marks.
3) Classification: The classification service only evaluates the specific hazards of products, or evaluates products that implement standards other than UL standards (including internationally recognized standards, such as IEC and ISO standards). Generally speaking, most classified products are not products used by consumers, but products used by industry or commerce. The classification mark in UL trademark indicates that the product has certain restrictions and prescribed scope when it is recognized by UL. For example, for chemicals such as solvents used in industry, only the range where fires may occur when they reach the ignition temperature is evaluated. The grading service of some products is the same as the listing service, but generally only one or several aspects of the products are evaluated. For example, in the United States, medical X-ray diagnostic equipment must comply with American laws and regulations on radiation emission and beam accuracy, but because UL only regards X-rays as classified products, it only evaluates its non-radiation properties such as mechanical properties and electrical properties.
4) Multi-listing, Multi-accreditation or Multi-grading services: UL applicants can apply for multi-listing, Multi-accreditation or Multi-grading services if their products need to be produced in the name of other companies due to sales needs. In this case, listed, certified or graded manufacturers are allowed to use the name of another company in the product catalog, but the product is not a company code, product code or UL.
5) "AL" listing, accreditation or rating service: If the UL applicant does not want to obtain listing, accreditation or rating service in the name of his own company, he can apply for listing, accreditation or rating service in the name of another company (usually a retailer or wholesaler), that is, "Al" listing, accreditation or rating service. Different from multiple listing, multiple accreditation or multi-level services, the applicant is not a listed person.
6) System certification service: As a member of the International Accreditation Committee, UL has extensively participated in ISO9000 quality system certification, ISO 14000 environmental protection certification, QS9000 automobile industry quality system certification and AS9000 aircraft industry quality system certification service. Up to now, 1 16 factories in China have obtained the UL system certification; Where 2 1 is ISO900 1 certified, 85 is ISO9002 certified, 1 is ISO 1400 1 certified, and 9 is QS9000 certified.
7) Other services of 7)UL: such as certification service, inspection service, fact judgment service and investigation service. I won't introduce it here.
UL test
Once UL gets all the data you can provide, UL can decide which department to test the product. UL engineering department will:
. Make a test plan,
. Provide estimated test costs,
. Approximate test end time
. Send application form
At this time, if you have any time limit, you should inform UL so that it can be considered when arranging the examination time. Once you return the application form and provide the corresponding advance payment, and the UL engineer receives the corresponding test samples, the UL engineer can really start testing your products.
Once the product test is completed, your project engineer will inform you whether the product meets the requirements of UL. For products that meet UL requirements, the project engineer will write a formal report based on the test data. The test data will also be used to track the service and serve as a basic part of tracking the details of the service.
The tracking service specification is a document that describes the product structure in detail and meets the requirements after UL UL testing. UL's field representatives will use this document as a guide for regular inspection of UL products in the factory.
Before UL engineers send you the test report, you must agree to participate in UL's tracking service plan. You must sign and return the follow-up inspection report to show that you are involved in this program. Usually this document will be sent a few days after the application form is sent.
If your product does not meet the requirements of UL for some reason, UL will inform you of the unqualified items. If you choose to change the product and are willing to repeat the test, you can contact the engineer in charge of your project to retest the necessary projects.
If you have questions about the test results, understanding of requirements or UL's decision, UL's appeal procedure enables you to let UL's management agencies hear your opinions without worrying about affecting the relationship with UL.
UL's tracking service
As an integral part of UL certification, in order to ensure that the products listed and approved by UL continuously meet UL standards and requirements, UL has formulated a "follow-up inspection" system. "Follow-up inspection" means that UL sends field representatives around the world to the production site of local factories to conduct follow-up inspection on UL products. Its purpose is to ensure that the manufacturer's production process, inspection process and products always meet UL requirements by checking the production process, inspection process and products of the factory against UL standards and subsequent inspection rules.
In order to ensure the implementation of UL's "Follow-up Inspection" system, UL signed a "Follow-up Inspection Agreement" with the manufacturer. According to the "Follow-up Inspection Agreement", the site representative will inspect the factory regularly without prior notice, and the factory shall not refuse the inspection of the site representative without reason.
After the on-site representative arrives at the factory, the inspection is mainly carried out in accordance with the "Detailed Rules for Tracking Inspection". "Detailed Rules for Follow-up Inspection" shall be compiled by UL Engineering Department after inspecting the samples submitted for inspection. This document includes a comprehensive description of the product, as well as photos and descriptions. It also stipulates various tests that manufacturers often have to do in the production process. Some tests require 100% products, such as stress testing. Part of the inspection can be carried out by sampling, and at the same time, it also stipulates the inspection items that must be randomly selected by the on-site representative during the on-site inspection in the factory. On-site representatives judge whether the test results are qualified according to the detailed information and regulations of these tests. UL's follow-up tests are divided into class r and class l. Class L services are mainly used for products related to life safety, such as fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, fire doors and some products with considerable output, such as power equipment, wires and circuit breakers. For L-class products, manufacturers must order labels directly from UL and attach them to the products. Class R services are mainly used for electrical equipment, such as electric fans, televisions, hair dryers, ovens and other products usually produced by corresponding assembly lines.
The inspection by UL inspector is basically a mechanical operation. According to different products, the inspector's inspection basis includes announcement, procedures, fuui (if any, included in the detailed rules) and UL standard (if required in fuui).
If the factory is producing UL products or UL products in stock when the inspector visits the factory, the inspector will take samples in one of the following ways:
Extract components from the production line and complete products from the warehouse.
Extract all parts from the warehouse and add complete products to the production line.
Extract complete products from the warehouse for segmentation.
The specific number of samples depends on the detailed rules, FUII (follow-up inspection instructions), SAP (standard attachments) or direct orders from UL Laboratories. Inspectors may not always check all products, but they will try to check all product categories or models within one year or at least two years. Generally speaking, UL is not too demanding on the production system of the factory. It is only required to measure instruments and equipment once a year, keep the factory's own inspection records, and have certain control measures for unqualified products.
During the inspection, the on-site representatives (UL inspectors) will mainly pay attention to the product itself, and they will inspect the structure, components and assembly of the product one by one according to the above inspection basis. For parts and components related to product safety, the general rules will indicate that they are required to be UL certified products, and will indicate the manufacturer and model; Generally speaking, for injection-molded parts such as shells and shields, the detailed rules will specify their raw materials and size requirements. The site representative will check the above items and UL marks specified in the detailed rules.
In addition, if the detailed rules or standards require on-site testing of products, the on-site representative will ask the factory inspector to do the corresponding testing, and the on-site representative will be present as a witness. If the detailed rules also require samples to be sent to UL for subsequent testing, the factory shall cooperate with inspectors to make corresponding samples. After the inspectors write the sample labels, provide the addresses and seal the samples, the factory will send the samples to the corresponding UL laboratories.
If the products produced by the factory fully meet the requirements of the corresponding inspection standards of UL, and there is no other violation of the tracking service agreement, the inspector will issue a tracking inspection report; The factory representative shall sign the report after confirming its accuracy; One inspection is completed. If there is something inconsistent with the inspection standards in the inspection process, the inspector will issue a Change Notice according to the specific situation and take corresponding measures.
If the UL mark is used for unauthorized products, the inspector will ask to delete the UL mark; For products that do not meet UL requirements, the inspector will remove the UL mark or rework it in the required factory to make it meet the requirements; If the factory disagrees with the above treatment, it can temporarily keep the UL mark, but the shipment must be stopped, and the inspector will inform the corresponding laboratory, and UL will reply to decide whether to keep the UL mark; If it is only a small problem that does not affect product safety, 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 will not affect the qualification of the ex-factory products, but as a document processing of UL, the inspector will also issue a change notice. Under normal circumstances, unless it is UL's responsibility, the inspector will ask the factory to explain the nonconformities to the corresponding laboratories, and UL will give the corresponding answers according to your explanation.
Of course, the inspector's judgment is only temporary, and the final decision is of course in UL Laboratory. If the factory has any objection to the inspection practice, it can completely reflect it to the corresponding laboratory. At this point, the inspector is obliged to provide the corresponding contact person and contact information. After confirming that the contents recorded in the change notice are correct, the factory representative shall sign the notice.