NAS Certification in the UAE: TDRA, ECAS LVE and RoHS
A NAS manufacturer needed three UAE approvals: TDRA for telecommunications, ECAS LVE for electrical safety and ECAS RoHS for restricted substances. All three were obtained in under five weeks without submitting any hardware, because the required test protocols already existed.
The task
Client: a Network Attached Storage manufacturer. Region: United Arab Emirates. Goal: the mandatory certifications for legal import and sale.
Three regulatory frameworks applied:
| Approval | Covers |
|---|---|
| TDRA | Telecommunications regulation |
| ECAS LVE | Electrical safety compliance |
| ECAS RoHS | Restriction of hazardous substances |
What the work involved
- Preparation and verification of all technical documentation in English
- Registration of a local applicant holding a trade licence in the MOIAT system
- Submission of applications and document uploads to the relevant government bodies
- Payment of government fees, 705 AED per ECAS certificate
- Communication with the regulatory authorities through to certificate issuance
Which documents go in the file?
- Device specifications
- Safety protocols, EN or CB
- EMC and RF reports
- Declarations of conformity, including RoHS and LVE
- Photographs and diagrams, PCB, labelling, block diagram
- User manuals in English and Arabic
- The UAE trade licence of the applicant
The PCB photographs and block diagram are the items manufacturers most often have to generate rather than retrieve. Prepare them before the application opens instead of waiting for a request for information.
How long does each approval take and what does it cost?
| Certificate | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| TDRA | 4 weeks | 2,250 AED |
| ECAS LVE | 1 week | 1,680 + 705 AED |
| ECAS RoHS | 1 week | 1,680 + 705 AED |
All three procedures required full prepayment, and none involved providing physical device samples, because all the required test protocols were already available.
That last condition is what made a five-week project possible. A manufacturer without existing EN or CB safety protocols and EMC and RF reports would have had a testing programme in front of them before any of this could start.
Result
In under five weeks the client obtained every required certification, giving:
- The legal right to import and sell in the UAE
- Simplified customs clearance
- Compliance with international and regional safety standards
Sources
- TDRA, Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority, United Arab Emirates
- MOIAT, Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, ECAS scheme
- IECEE CB Scheme, for the safety protocols accepted in the file
Frequently asked questions
Can UAE certification be completed without sending samples?
Yes, provided all the required test protocols are already available. In this project none of the three procedures involved providing physical device samples. What they did require was full prepayment before each procedure began.
Which approvals does a NAS device need in the UAE?
Three. TDRA, the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority, for telecommunications regulation; ECAS LVE for electrical safety compliance; and ECAS RoHS for compliance with hazardous substances restrictions.
How long does each take?
TDRA takes about four weeks and costs 2,250 AED. ECAS LVE and ECAS RoHS each take about a week, at 1,680 AED plus a 705 AED government fee. Run in parallel, the whole set completed in under five weeks.
Not sure which of these applies to your product? Send it and we will tell you
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