EAC Approval for Power Adapters and Chargers

Which regulations apply to adapters?

Adapters fall under three mandatory regulations for import into the Customs Union area:

The first two are united in a single certificate. The third stands alone.

The certificate for TR CU 004 and 020

A certificate of conformity can be issued either for serial production, with one, three or five years’ validity, or for a single delivery, in which case it ceases to be valid once that delivery is complete.

The process runs in four steps:

1. Application. The certification body prepares an application carrying the full technical data on the product, name, type, model, HS code, plus the manufacturer’s details and the applicant’s. Only a Customs Union-based company may act as applicant.
2. Registration. Once the manufacturer checks and confirms the application, the applicant signs it and the certification body registers it. For a serial certificate, a site audit for the quality management system and sample selection is foreseen at this point.
3. Audit and sampling. An expert from the certification body visits the production site, audits the production area and selects the samples for testing in a Customs Union laboratory. A QMS audit is not required for a batch certificate.
4. Testing. Samples go to the laboratory; preliminary lead time is about two weeks. With a positive test report, the certificate can be registered.

The obligation that continues

All serial certificates are subject to annual inspection control. Each year within the certificate’s validity, new samples must be sent for testing and an inspection report prepared. An additional audit is sometimes required as well, to confirm that production quality has not drifted since initial registration.

This recurring cost belongs in the decision about whether to take a one-, three- or five-year certificate.

How is RoHS covered?

Comfortably simpler. TR EAEU 037 is covered by a declaration only, no audit, no mandatory sample testing.

The declaration can be issued on the manufacturer’s own RoHS test reports, for example from a European laboratory. Where no such report exists, samples go to a Customs Union laboratory instead, and RoHS testing can take up to a month, longer than the two weeks for the safety and EMC tests, which often makes it the item that determines when the project finishes.

What do both documents need?

An operating manual translated into the Union’s working language. Neither the certificate nor the declaration can be registered without it, and it is the single most common item to be left until last.

Sources

• TR CU 004/2011, On the safety of low-voltage equipment, Eurasian Economic Commission
• TR CU 020/2011, Electromagnetic compatibility of technical means
• TR EAEU 037/2016, On restriction of the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic products