The successful international CB Scheme was established in 1985 and hence celebrates its 40 years anniversary this year.
‘CB’ simply stands for Certification Body. and the scheme is a part of the IECEE, which was a merger between the former Europe-based CEE and the IEC, hence that acronym.
CEE was the International Commission on Rules for the Approval of Electrical Equipment, which dates all the way back to 1929. Apart from cooperation on approvals/certification between the member countries, CEE also made and published standards for electrical equipment, which have since been superseded by IEC- and CENELEC standards.
Prior to 1985 were the regional certification schemes CCA and HAR (for cables) predominate within Europe and became largely models for the international CB Scheme.
CCA was in turn inspired by the agreement between the Nordic EMKO-bodies about mutual acceptance of test results, which started already in 1939.
During the forty years, the IECEE has grown to be the world’s most recognized and trusted multilateral certification system for electrotechnical products based on the international IEC standards. It has played a critical role in reducing technical barriers to trade by providing a unified system for conformity assessment, allowing manufacturers to access global markets more efficiently, helping to accelerate innovation while upholding high safety and performance standards.
Presently, there are 53 IECEE member countries with totally 95 national certification bodies that have about 600 associated test laboratories and about 2000 accepted manufacturers’ laboratories.
About 120 000 IECEE Certificates are now issued annually to more than 15 000 manufacturers worldwide.
The 40 years anniversary was duly marked during IECEE’s annual Certification Management Committee (CMC) plenary meeting held in June this year in Helsinki, Finland.
Amongst other hot topics on the agenda were:
-Decision of the IEC Board to increase in the coming years the IEC conformity systems’ contribution of the IEC by CHF 6 mill, of which 68 % from the IECEE.
-Survey amongst the IECEE member countries to check that they recognize IECEE Certificates from other NCBs according to the basic rules.
-Acceptance of application from Uzbekistan to become a member of the IECEE.
-Presentation by the Australian member body about the current regulations for market access in their country.
-Proposal by Nemko to add the cyber security standard ISO/IEC 27402 to the CB Scheme scope.
-Offer by ETICS (European Testing, Inspection & Certification System) for Certification Bodies outside Europe to use ETICS’ CIG Factory Inspection Scheme, for helping to streamline the globalization of production and manufacturing.
For further information, please contact Morten.Andersen@nemko.com or Andreas.Nilsson@nemko.com
(This article is based on information from Morten Andersen and postings on the IECEE website; edited by T.Sollie)