CB Certification

CB Certification is a global mutual recognition system established by the IECEE (International Electrotechnical Commission System for Conformity Assessment Schemes for Electrotechnical Equipment and Components). Currently, 45 certification bodies from 34 countries participate in the CB mutual recognition scheme, and the number of member countries and member bodies continues to grow. Once an enterprise obtains a CB Certificate from one of the certification bodies, it can relatively easily convert it into a certification certificate issued by another body, thereby gaining market access to the relevant countries. The member countries of the CB Scheme cover all the major export destinations for China's electromechanical products: the United States, Japan, Western Europe, Northern Europe, Poland, Russia, ASEAN, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and more.

Management of the CB Scheme

The CB Scheme is managed by the Certification Management Committee (CMC), which reports to the IEC Conformity Assessment Board (CAB). The CAB approves the CMC's recommendations regarding changes to CB Scheme principles, official appointments, financial matters, and IECEE policies. The CMC is responsible for operating, developing, and improving the CB Scheme in accordance with its principles, as well as deciding on the acceptance, rejection, and suspension of memberships, and determining new product categories and standards for the CB Scheme.

The members of the CMC consist of representatives from member countries, including NCB representatives, CMC executive officers (Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer), the Chairman and Secretary of the Committee of Testing Laboratories (CTL), representatives of IEC advisory committees (such as ACOS) and the Safety Advisory Committee, and the IEC Secretary-General.

The Committee of Testing Laboratories (CTL) is composed of representatives from NCBs and CB Testing Laboratories. The CTL is responsible for handling test procedures and interpreting technical requirements, test conditions, test equipment, and comparative testing. Its main objective is to enhance technical credibility and consistency, which is required for the mutual recognition of test results within the CB Scheme.

Applying for a CB Certificate

Regarding applications for CB Test Certificates, the following points should be noted:

• An application for a CB Test Certificate may be submitted by the applicant to any "Issuing/Recognizing" NCB that covers the scope of the product in question.
• The applicant may be either the manufacturer itself or an entity authorized to represent the manufacturer.
• The application may cover one or more factories producing the product in one or more countries.
• Applicants/manufacturers/factories located in countries without an IECEE member body are required to pay an additional fee of 150 Swiss francs for each CB Test Certificate, to compensate for the operating costs of the system. This fee is collected by the NCB processing the CB Test Certificate application and remitted to the IECEE account.
• The applicant may request the NCB to test the product in accordance with the national differences of the country where the product is to be sold.

For a manufacturer to obtain product certification for the target market, the following procedures are involved:

1. Submission of an application to the NCB of the target country;
2. The CB Test Certificate;
3. The CB Test Report (which may include national differences);
4. Provision of product samples to the NCB of the target market when requested. The purpose of requesting samples is to verify that the product is consistent with the product tested by the original issuing NCB, and that national differences have been covered.

CB Test Certificate and CB Test Report

A CB Test Certificate is a formal CB Scheme document issued by an authorized NCB. Its purpose is to inform other NCBs that the tested product sample has been found to comply with the current requirements. The CB Test Certificate should not be used for advertising purposes; however, an existing CB Certificate may be used as a reference document.

The CB Report is a standardized report that lists the requirements of the relevant IEC standard in the form of a clause-by-clause checklist. The report provides the results of all required tests, measurements, verifications, inspections, and evaluations, and these results shall be clear and unambiguous. The report also contains photographs, circuit diagrams, illustrations, and a product description. Under the rules of the CB Scheme, a CB Test Report is only valid when provided together with a CB Test Certificate.

If an NCB possesses the necessary test equipment and technical capability, it may test and evaluate products in accordance with the national differences of other countries. These additional tests are attached as annexes to the CB Test Report and are generally recognized by other recognizing NCBs.

Benefits of the CB Test Certificate

1. Conversion into foreign certification certificates.​ If you have already obtained a CB Test Certificate and CB Test Report, you can directly apply for certification certificates from other countries. The certification body in the target country reviews the CB Test Certificate and Report (including reports on relevant national differences), and, if necessary, requires a small number of samples. If the review is satisfactory, you can obtain certification in that country without undergoing additional testing in accordance with the regulations and procedural rules of the target country.
    
2. Conversion into Chinese national certification certificates.​ Based on the CB Test Report and difference testing, a Chinese national product certification report can be issued, enabling you to obtain China's compulsory or other voluntary certification certificates for electrotechnical products.
    
3. Direct recognition or approval by other countries.​ With the CB Test Certificate and CB Test Report, your products can be exported directly to certain countries.
    
4. Cost and time savings.​ Before applying for foreign certification, if domestic enterprises first apply for a CB Test Certificate in China, the testing is carried out in a domestic CB testing laboratory. This not only saves considerable costs, but also reduces the turnaround time for sample submission and document delivery, enabling domestic enterprises to obtain the CB Test Certificate as quickly as possible.
    
5. Greater certainty of passing product testing.​ If an enterprise has already obtained a CB Test Certificate, when applying for certification in other countries, all or most of the CB test results will be recognized, which can eliminate or reduce the need for re-submitting samples for testing, again saving both time and costs. More importantly, since the product has already undergone CB testing domestically, the likelihood of passing the difference testing is significantly increased.
    

About Us

Test reports issued by Global United (GTS) are legally valid and can be used for scenarios such as supermarket/retail channel entry, product appeal and dispute resolution, protection against malicious rights-claims, and auction listings (appeals and auction listings are subject to the testing requirements of the requesting party).

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