Technical information

Finally it is important to mention the Council for

Harmonization of Electrotechnical Standardization of

North America (CANENA), a body that deals with

harmonising standards within the NAFTA countries

2.1 Certifying authorities

The principal laboratories that certify products are:

Underwriters Laboratory Inc. (UL); founded in 1894 as a branch

of the fire brigade laboratory, is the main USA laboratory and one of

the renowned certifying organisations in the globe; it is an

independent non profit organisation that carries out tests and issues

product safety certifications. In 2003 more than 19 million products with the UL

mark were manufactured.

As a standards body accredited by ANSI, it sets the requirements the products

must comply with and defines the tests to control their conformity.Underwriters

Laboratory is recognised as a leader in the field of safety tests and its standards are

also generally used even by other test laboratories.

Canadian Standard Association (CSA): is the principal standards

organisation and certifying authority of Canadian products and plays

a similar role in Canada as that of the UL in the USA.

It is accredited by SCC as a laboratory and as standard organisation,

and besides publishing and updating the CEC, it issues manufacturing standards

tests for products.

There are 18 laboratories accredited by OSHA in the USA and 26 by SCC in

Canada. Some laboratories are recognised in both countries: Entela, Intertek

Testing (known also as ETL Semko), MET Laboratories, TUV (in several

versions).

INTRODUCTION TO NORTH AMERICAN STANDARDS