Hi, no doubt you've noticed on the back of electronics products like for example, these computer monitors. All these are power plug packs that you get with any product or practically any electronic product on the market. They contain a whole slew of these markings on the back that like at first glance you might think they're Klingon or whatever, but they actually mean something. And one of the main ones is the CEO mark and I Thought we'd take a look at it.

Of course we have to do a separate video on what all the other marks mean because there's dozens of them. the most prevalent marking on the market. and this is the CE Marking. You'll find it's in practically every modern product.

It actually stands for conformity European Even can't speak French but it's French. It simply means European conformity. Now, most goods sold in the European Union require this mark in order to be imported, sold, and then moved around within the European Union, but it's not really relevant for products sold outside. The European Union's pretty much an EU thing.

now. First up, it's important to understand what the CE mark isn't It is not an approval mark. There is no a company or body called the C II that actually approves or tests or certifies your product. Unlike the ones on the left there for example, the UL one or the one on the right the Tuv.

their approval marks I have to do a separate video on those. The CE mark is nothing of the sort and it does not signify that it's a quality product er. as passed. Any sort of quality standard, let's find out what it actually is.

This mark signifies that the product meets various safety and conformity requirements related to the particular type of product that it actually is, as set down by the Council of the European Union more, don't they sound important? So this can include a whole host of requirements entirely dependent upon what the actual product is. Now for most electronics products, the CE mark will relate to several different things. The first one is EMC or Electromagnetic Conformity Directive. The second is that it meets the Low Voltage directive for product safety.

The third is that it complies with the Rose standard or Reduction of Hazardous substances. and fourth, and this really applies to any products regardless of whether or not as the CE Marking, The EU is the general product safety directive, but it could certainly include more than that once again, depending on the product or a specific application that the manufacturer is trying to meet and certify for. The EMC directive ensures that the product does not emit electromagnetic radiation that is likely to interfere with other equipment, and this can include both irradiated interference and also conducted interference through connecting cables. And it also ensures the opposite in that the product is unlikely to be interfered by any external electromagnetic interference, even natural or from other products or the surrounding environment.

The Low Voltage Directive that covers the safety requirements of any product that is basically mains, powered or high-voltage products under 50 volts AC or 75 volts DC are covered under the General Product Safety directive. It really, you know, only covers like high-voltage things. Is this going to kill the person? So basically low voltage battery power products, for example, would mainly be concerned with the EMC requirement. Also, they're just the general safety requirement and rows and all that sort of stuff.

not really anything to do with electrical safety. Now, the CE Marking also covers the environmental aspects of the product as well, and this is covered in the Our Ross directive which is the restriction of hazardous substances and there's a subset of this which is the waste, electrical and electronic equipment, or the We Directive. but that's strictly not part of the CE Marking requirements. and you'll actually see the restrictive symbol on there, which is the garbage bin with the X going through.

That mention not to dispose of them in your regular garbage. But it's a little bit different to see so you might often see these three marks tied together the CE mark, The We garbage bin and the Rods directive are number on there, and that's not uncommon for either electronic products or more common on products and non electronics. and that's really the only directive that kind of applies. and you'll sometimes see this recycled symbol either with an E in there or with a number in there.

And that's actually not to be confused with the European one. This is actually a specific Chinese Rose requirement and the number in the middle signifies how many years it will take to fir hazardous substances to leak out from it. So just don't mix up a two. So see, let's see mark on the product and all the product packaging.

It actually mean a lot of different things, but what it means should actually be spelled out in what's called a declaration of Conformity a certificate that usually accompanies products when they get imported into the EU. You might even find these in the actual product box itself, so this sounds great, right? Does this mean that every product that has the CE mark has been tested to meet these safety and EMC and other requirements? Well, unfortunately not. Whilst the CE mark itself is mandatory for products sold within the EU, the CE mark and the declaration of Conformity are actually self-certifying. What this means is that the manufacturer is is responsible for applying the CE mark and they can actually determine on their own whether or not a product meets these particular requirements.

There is actually no regulation forcing them to do actual testing or certification. A company has not actually given the right to use the CE mark. They can simply declare that our products fine. We're going to whack the CE mark on it.

There's nothing you're actually forcing you to do any independent testing. You can just do it in-house rub your chin, and go. Oh yeah, she'll be right. No worries for like to see e mark on it.

But of course the trick comes. If your product kills someone or causes issues, then the manufacturer can be taking the task. Show us all your testing documentation of why you think it should have passed that see compliance. So there's nothing actually forcing you to do a third-party independent testing on your products.

But of course it's very worthwhile. Get the proper test reports and then basically your ass is covered. So any good manufacturer will be able to actually provide like a full test reports like this that show all the details, all the test results, photos of the testing rigs, and everything else that goes into actually testing electromagnetic conformity goes into testing. You know, very low voltage directive or product safety and things like that.

Now is one common misconception about the Sea Mic That should be cleared up. and this is the fake CE Marking in quote marks that supposedly means China export and it does actually look different to the formal CE mark. The space and the characters are quite different. There's actually no such thing as the China export mark, and whilst there's a formal correct way to draw the sea logo, it's or see mark.

It's not uncommon for genuine products from big-name manufacturers to actually have this incorrect. So seeing this incorrect marking is not necessarily an indication of a fake or a non-compliant product. Just be aware of that. Yep, it's a myth.

China Export doesn't exist. So Wikipedia actually has a decent list of like oh, this step by step stages you're supposed to go through in order to determine how and when and why you're going to apply the CE Marking to your product. And it's not a bad list at all. Check it out! Now You may have seen also the FCC symbol on the back of products, often right alongside the C and once again, it's a declaration of Conformity type symbol, but this is a US specific thing instead of European.

Now there are three levels of FCC certification. The first one is simply a self-certifying thing and that just like the CEO requirement. The second one is a declaration of Conformity. If you're going to do that, then you need to get it tested by an approved test house approved by the FCC and the third one is actual certification which actually requires FCC approval and sign-off So it's basically choose-your-own-adventure and the FCC symbol is not as all-encompassing in terms of health and safety and environmental that the CE mark is.

It's just for emissions requirements - electronics products basically. And there's a whole host of other marks on there. I'll have to do follow-up videos, and other countries like Australia and other countries around the world have their own specific requirements of regulatory compliance. mark the old C Tech thing which you might see next to the FCC symbol there.

and there's other ones for other countries. Very similar to the C to the C mark and the FCC that we've been talking about here. But yeah, I could keep doing videos on all these things until the cows come home and I do in the future anyway. I Hope you enjoyed that.

found it useful if you did, Please give it a big thumbs up and as always, discuss it down below. Catch you next time.