Page 1 of 5 You re receiving this newsletter because you have expressed interest in Underwriters Laboratories High-Tech Division. Having trouble viewing this email? View it in your browser. 5.25.10 UL News Electrical Product Certification Available in Australia and New Zealand UL Environment, LG Electronics Validate Energy-Saving Claims EN 60950-1 Second Edition Coming in 2010; UL Can Help Manufacturers Maintain Compliance for Continued European Market Access 2010 North America Certification Industry Against Counterfeiting (CAIC) Summit on June 2 New Briefs from UL on New Industry Standard, IEC 62368-1 Forward Know someone who might be interested in this email? Forward it. Subscribe Did you receive this email as a forward? Do you want to receive it regularly? Subscribe. Unsubscribe Not interested in this email? Unsubscribe. UL Helps Manufacturers with Emerging Compliance Trends for High-Tech Products UL tests more than 19,000 product types every year from High-Tech to Medical to Lighting to Appliances. As such, it s important we understand macrotrends in the value chain, anticipate the compliance trends that will emerge and prepare manufacturers as early as possible. Three primary trends influencing conformity assessment now are consumerization, complexity and globalization. Consumerization: The trend for technology companies to bring new innovations to the consumer market ahead of business markets defines consumerization. Increasingly, the features consumers demand in new products include interoperability, minimal environmental impact, sound and image quality, and mobility. Complexity: The high-tech product supply chain is growing more complex. With the demand for a faster pace of innovation, product life cycles have shortened, and design and engineering are undergoing decentralization. Globalization: It s not new, but globalization is driving more stringent and complex regulatory, environmental and industry requirements. Companies are struggling to keep up with the changing compliance environment and manage multiple sources of specifications, standards and product data. As a result, development costs increase and a lack of focus on innovation results. UL understands the impact of these trends on manufacturers, and in response, we have new business offerings to help manufacturers navigate these changing times. The industry standard IEC 62368-1 to be implemented in 2015 is built on the concept of Hazard Based Safety Engineering. UL is already in the process of applying the standard in actual product evaluations in order to better provide input into the next editions of the standard, develop tools to facilitate its use and also develop education programs for those who are interested in learning more about the standard.
Page 2 of 5 Manufacturers are responding to consumers desires to decrease their carbon footprints. As such, environmental claims are now the norm. UL Environment provides thirdparty certification services for these claims that help manufacturers stand out from the competition and mitigate any distrust caused by self-declaration. UL is the one-stop solution for market access to the U.S., Canada and Europe with the introduction of our UL-EU Mark, which enables manufacturers to achieve global safety certification through a single source. UL recently introduced new battery separator requirements, which evaluate the integrity of the separator, a vital component in battery safety. Also, UL announced it intends to develop a standard for induction power transmitters and receivers for use with low-energy products. You can read more about these standards in this newsletter. Please contact Carlos Correia for further information regarding compliance trends for high-tech products. UL Launches Battery Separator Testing and Certification Services It seems that the ever-increasing demands we place upon mobile electronic devices and other battery-powered gadgets know no limits. Consequently, the importance of battery reliability and safety is growing as well. The integrity of the battery separator the porous film that keeps the anode and cathode components of batteries apart while still allowing ions to flow between them is a vital component in battery safety. UL has worked with its industry partners to establish new requirements for separators that enhance the safety of lithium battery cells. UL Subject 2591 was issued in December 2009. Whether you re a separator manufacturer, a battery manufacturer who uses separators or a battery-powered device manufacturer, evaluation to Subject 2591 will help you control critical separator parameters in order to reduce the potential for product failure and enhance consumer confidence in your products. UL s full testing and certification services pursuant to the new requirements offer the assurance of conformity to you and your customers. UL also provides all the technical information and guidance necessary to help you achieve conformance with the new requirements. Please contact Asli Solmaz-Kaiser for more information. UL News Electrical Product Certification Available in
Page 3 of 5 Australia and New Zealand UL recently announced that effective May 3, 2010, it will be providing electrical product certification for Australia and New Zealand under its ANZ Certification Program. UL is accredited by JAS-ANZ (the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand) as a conformity assessment body and the NSW Government has granted UL Recognised External Assessment Scheme status. The Program enables UL to offer a one-stop-shop service to satisfy customer regulatory requirements for EMC and safety, in addition to providing a Certificate of Approval that meets electrical product safety regulatory requirements in all states of Australia and New Zealand. Certificates of Compliance may be issued where there is no regulatory requirement for product approval but where customers wish to give assurance to their markets of their products compliance with safety standards. For more information, please send inquiries to enquiries@nz.ul.com. UL Environment, LG Electronics Validate Energy-Saving Claims LG Electronics is the first consumer electronics and appliance manufacturer to have products assessed via the UL Environmental Claims Validation program. UL Environment, designed to provide companies with a new source for independent, thirdparty green claims validation, has validated claims for the popular 47LH90 LCD TV by performing a variety of laboratory tests. UL purchased LG products from U.S. retailers prior to testing. Using this comprehensive UL Environment third-party testing program to validate environmental claims such as energy and efficiency will instill further confidence in our products performance and will help maintain consumers confidence in voluntary programs such as ENERGY STAR, said Teddy Hwang, President of LG Electronics USA. LG intends to expand its participation in the UL Environment program to cover other High-Tech product lines, including plasma HDTVs and Blu-ray Disc players. Recent announcements by the California Energy Commission (CEC), Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicate a growing movement toward third-party testing and certification for energy-efficient products. In fact, UL s laboratory in San Jose, Calif., is one of a few labs that have received accreditation by The International Accreditation Service (IAS) to test consumer electronics and information technology equipment for compliance to the ENERGY STAR
Page 4 of 5 requirements. For more information on the UL Environment third-party testing program for ENERGY STAR, click here. EN 60950-1 Second Edition Coming in 2010; UL Can Help Manufacturers Maintain Compliance for Continued European Market Access For those marketing information technology equipment in the European Union, EN 60950-1 Second Edition will supersede the current First Edition starting Dec. 1, 2010. To align with the EU, UL will also certify new products and significant changes to UL 60950-1 Second Edition. To avoid any certification delays or challenges to your declarations, UL can offer guidance through the process of updating your certifications or type approval documentation accordingly. We can also assist in recertification for holders of CB Test Certificates in order to maintain their validity. As there are more than 50 revised or new clauses in EN 60950-1 Second Edition, manufacturers should review its impact now in order to maintain compliance for continued European market access. UL can help identify required changes and retest modified products to the revised standard. Please contact Jeff Brandt for more information. 2010 North America Certification Industry Against Counterfeiting (CAIC) Summit on June 2 UL is inviting customers to the 2010 Certification Industry Against Counterfeiting (CIAC) Summit on June 2, 2010 at the National IPR Coordination Center in Arlington, Va. Co-hosted by the National IPR Coordination Center and INTERPOL in partnership with CIAC, the summit s theme is Raising Awareness and Converting Information into Action. Experts from North America will discuss and engage in open dialogue regarding the health and safety risks that counterfeit products pose. The intent of the Summit is to facilitate the discussion between the private and public sectors with the hope that this information can be used to more effectively combat the crime of counterfeiting. Additionally, on June 3, 2010 the National IPR Coordination Center is hosting a symposium entitled IP Theft and International Organized Crime and Terrorism - The Emerging Threat. This one-day event will be a vehicle for law enforcement and industry to raise public awareness and change the public s perception that IP theft is a victimless crime. There is no charge to attend these events, but preregistration for security reasons is encouraged. Preregistration and further information is available via
Page 5 of 5 www.ciac.info under the News and Events tab. For questions about the summit or symposium, please contact Brian Monks. New Briefs from UL on New Industry Standard, IEC 62368-1 Last month, UL released a white paper on the new industry standard for audio/video, information technology and communication technology equipment, IEC 62368-1. It employs a new form of safety testing, Hazard Based Safety Engineering (HBSE), which evaluates hazards that can be transferred to end users and how technology products safeguard against these potential dangers. HBSE enables engineers to integrate safety compliance early in the product design cycle, and supports sound engineering principles, research and field data. UL has released two additional technical briefs that provide more information on HBSE. Click here to read about the types of equipment covered within the scope of the standard and the three-block model, one of the underlying principles of HBSE. For more information about IEC 62368-1, please contact Kevin Ravo. Copyright 2010 Underwriters Laboratories Inc. All rights reserved.