Vocabulary of the Project Participant / Certification of Electric Motors
We introduce a new section to you - "Vocabulary of the Project Participant".
In this section, we will define the main terms relevant for our line of activity, try to answer all your questions and, if necessary, discuss everything in the comments.
Today we will consider such a concept as "Certification of electric motors".
Certification of electric motors is no different from certification of any other product.
Product certification is the confirmation of product characteristics meeting the requirements of engineering standards. The procedure is carried out by an accredited agency qualified for certification. The list of products subject to certification is prescribed in the "Resolution of the Russian Federation (RF) Government No. 982". The main document regulating certification activities is the federal law of the Russian Federation "On Technical Regulation No. 184".
Mandatory certification is one of the items required for confirmation of compliance.
The concept of "confirmation of compliance" is introduced by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and is defined as a procedure that can result in a statement that gives confidence that the product (process, service) complies with technical regulations, standardization documents, and contractual terms.
Confirmation of compliance in the Russian Federation that is a member of the Customs Union (CU) may be mandatory or voluntary.
Mandatory confirmation of compliance is carried out in the following forms:
- mandatory certification;
- acceptance of the declaration of conformity (hereinafter referred to as "declaration").
The procedure for applying the forms of mandatory confirmation of compliance is established by the Federal Law "On Technical Regulation No. 184".
"Certification" and "declaration" as forms of compliance confirmation have been created in the European Union. And, depending on the degree of potential danger of the product, the appropriate form of certification is used: for the most dangerous groups of products, a mandatory conformity assessment should be carried out in accredited certification bodies; for less dangerous products - a declaration of the product safety by the manufacturer (manufacturer's representative) or the seller can be applied.
The difference between these two forms is the degree of responsibility of the applicants and the certification agencies. For product certification, the certification body draws up and is held responsible for the certificate of conformity, in other cases, the applicants themselves accept the declaration of conformity on the basis of the product testing results. The certification body only registers the document, the responsibility for the information provided in the declaration is taken on by the declarant.
Voluntary certification is carried out on a voluntary basis. A lot of manufacturers and importers undergo certification in order to enhance product competitiveness and customer loyalty.
Accordingly, it is possible to distinguish three forms of documents issued as confirmation of compliance:
- mandatory certificate of conformity;
- declaration of conformity (mandatory);
- voluntary certificate of conformity.
When carrying out certification or declaration of conformity of products, various certification/declaration schemes are applied, which are established in the systems of conformity assessment of homogeneous products taking into account the peculiarities of the products. The specific scheme is chosen by the applicant, taking into account the peculiarities of manufacturing such products.
Schemes from different systems are used for certification or declaration of different products.
Let's consider the schemes that meet the requirements of the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union (CU TR). For product certification, schemes with the designations 1c — 9c are used, for declaration — schemes 1d — 6d.
The certification schemes themselves represent a consistent set of activities aimed at confirming the compliance of products with technical regulations. They differ in the type of test requested, the presence or absence of a mandatory production audit, the need for inspection control, and the application. The choice of the scheme depends on the peculiarities of the product, the volume of its production and other factors.
Each type of product has its own technical regulations that prescribe the certification schemes required for this particular product. We will exemplify this with CU TR 004 "On the Safety of Low-Voltage Equipment", which contains not all, but only some of the above-mentioned certification and declaration schemes, namely:
schemes 1c, 3c, 4c for product certification and schemes 1d, 2d, 3d, 4d, 6d for declaration of conformity.
Let's consider these certification schemes:
- Scheme 1c: for manufacturers of serial products; mandatory tests in an accredited laboratory and analysis of the production state; periodic tests;
- Scheme 3c: for manufacturers and suppliers (including foreign ones) of a batch of products; mandatory testing of products, without inspection of the production site and further periodic tests;
- Scheme 4c: the same as 3c, but for job production.
And the declaration schemes, respectively:
- Scheme 1d: for manufacturers of serial products, the tests are carried out by the manufacturers themselves, including production control;
- Scheme 2d: for manufacturers and suppliers of a batch of products, the tests are carried out by the manufacturers/suppliers themselves, without production control;
- Scheme 3d: for manufacturers of serial products, the tests are carried out by an accredited laboratory, but the production control is carried out independently by the manufacturers;
- Scheme 4d: for manufacturers and suppliers of a batch of products, the tests are carried out by an accredited laboratory, without production control;
- Scheme 6d: for manufacturers of serial products with many modifications, a quality management certificate is required, testing is conducted by an accredited laboratory, but production control is carried out independently by the manufacturers.
2 documents on certification and declaration schemes are relevant on the territory of the EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union): decision of the CU Commission No. 621 "About the Regulation on the Procedure for Applying Standard Schemes for Assessing (Confirming) Compliance with the Requirements of the Technical Regulations of the Customs Union" as of April 7, 2011 and decision of the EEC (Eurasian Economic Commission ) Council as of April 18, 2018 No. 44 "On Standard Schemes for Assessing Compliance".
You can get acquainted with all the certification and declaration schemes by studying these documents.
As far as certification of electric motors is concerned, the above-mentioned technical regulations - CU TR 004 "On the Safety of Low-Voltage Equipment" and CU TR 020 "On Electromagnetic Compatibility of Technical Facilities" are of interest for consideration.
It should be noted that certification is not always required. When it is not necessary, the right step is to obtain a letter of exemption from an accredited certification body, just like the company "SovElMash" did. As an example, we can refer to the Decision on Certification for the DAT-100L6 motor which is available here: https://sovelmash.ru/upload/documents/ДАТ-100L6%20Отказное%20решение%20по%20TR%20TS%20004,%20020_2020. pdf
According to this Decision, certification and declaration are not required. Therefore, motors of this type can be sold on the territory of the Customs Union without any restrictions.
You can find detailed information about compliance confirmation of products and services, and in particular about the compliance confirmation and certification of electric motors, in the following documents:
- Resolution of the Russian Federation Government No. 982;
- Federal Law "On Technical Regulation" dated as of 27.12.2002 N 184-FZ;
- Technical Regulation of the Customs Union TR CU 004/2011 "On the Safety of Low-Voltage Equipment";
- Technical Regulations of the Customs Union TR CU 020/2011 "On Electromagnetic Compatibility of Technical Facilities".