UAE Releases ECAS Certification Program
The UAE's product quality supervision agency is ESMA (United Arab Emirates Standards and Metrology Bureau). ESMA has developed a UAE Product Certification Scheme to ensure that products comply with international standards and have independent guarantees of quality and safety. According to the announcement issued by the Emirates ESMA, products (including electronic and electrical products) within the scope of ECAS registration and certification should be marked with ECAS and NB number.
According to the requirements of the UAE announcement, products within the scope of ECAS must pass the test to ensure compliance with the relevant standards of the UAE, and apply for a qualified CoC certificate at ESMA before they can enter the UAE market. Products that are not in the mandatory range may apply for voluntary certification. Applicants for conformity certification must be local registered companies in the UAE and provide a valid local business registration certificate.
The mandatory start time required for the initial announcement was February 2018, but later on the actual implementation issues, the Emirates ESMA updated the implementation schedule:
(1) September 1, 2018: Products that are new to the UAE market must have ECAS labels or printed logos;
(2) January 1, 2019: All products in the UAE market must have an ECAS label or a printed logo;
(3) January 1, 2020: All products in the UAE market must have ECAS printed logos, pay attention to printing only.
The current ECAS certification program is divided into the following sections:
(1) ECAS low voltage equipment (LVE);
(2) ECAS Energy Efficiency Standard Label (EESL);
(3) ECAS lighting regulations for safety and energy efficiency;
(4) ECAS explosive atmosphere (ECASEx);
(5) United Arab Emirates Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS).
The scope of certification can be found in the decision of Decision of the Chairman of the Board of Directors No. (78) in (2017).
In addition, the Emirates ESMA implemented the voluntary Emirates Quality Mark (EQM). EQM is a conformity mark for products that comply with relevant UAE national standards, regional (GCC / GSO) and/or international standards, and is ensured by organizations implementing an effective quality management system for ongoing compliance. The process of obtaining a UAE EQM quality mark license includes testing to check the product and the quality system used by the manufacturer for production. In addition, there are additional TRA certification requirements for communications products in the UAE.
