Yearly Archives: 2012

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ACCEPTABLE TEST REPORT CRITERIA CHANGE

We have made some important changes to our acceptance criteria for test reports. We have done this to be consistent with other Certification Bodies in Australia.

The following text includes the revision to our Approval Application Guide and will be used as a basis to determine the acceptability of a report. At all times, we reserve the right to refuse acceptance of any report at our sole discretion.

1. A report from a laboratory accredited by a signatory under the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) Mutual Recognition Arrangement.
2. A CB test report issued under the IECEE CB Scheme. CBTL without a certificate but TMP, WMT & SMT are accepted with certificates. RMT are not accepted. The report must be done to the IEC standard with the AU deviations in an appendix or separate report.
3. A GS report with GS certificate.
4. A safety report from a testing laboratory which is determined by electrical regulators to meet requirements within their legislative authority, generally that includes standards of competency not inferior to those embodied in (1) and (2) above, and which is recognised, certified or accredited within its own country by an appropriate national body, or internationally by similar bodies.

Note: The above reports shall be issued from laboratories where the scope of accreditation includes the standards listed in the report. The reports to be endorsed with authorised approving signatory. In certain circumstances we will accept reports without the endorsing logo, but the approving signatory must be authorised by the accreditation body for the standard in the report and the laboratory must be accredited for the standard in the report. Reports issued under the IECEE but without CB certificate do not have to have IECEE logo but all other requirements apply.

For AS/NZS 31XX series standards and other Australian only standards, our policy remains that the test report must carry the endorsement of the accreditation body and the authorised approving signatory.

We will continue to rigorously examine test reports to ensure that certified products are electrically safe and that they are signed by approved signatories and have been conducted within the scope of accreditation of an independent laboratory, just as we have always done.

SAA Approvals remains committed to providing the best quality service and the highest standards of safety possible.[:]

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Declared Article Definitions

New South Wales have updated Schedule 1 of the Electricity (Consumer Safety) Act 2004 for Declared Electrical Articles. For the latest list, please visit our summary here:
https://www.saaapprovals.com.au/files/Declaring_Definitions_for_Electrical_Products.pdf

PV Array Update

We have been in contact with the Standards committee in charge of AS/NZS 5033 and AS 4777 to clarify the content of our last newsletter.
The most important point is that IEC 62109 has an applicable date of July 16 2013. This means we will not be requiring proof of compliance to 62109 until July 16 2013.
Until that time we will continue to accept AS 4777 and AS/NZS 3100 as basis for certification of grid tie inverters associated with PV arrays.
The other major point is that the new version of AS 4777 which will also require compliance to IEC 62109 is still at the draft stage and must go for public comment.
Therefore, we will not expect to see this standard for at least 9 months.
Until we advise otherwise, AS/NZS 3100 must still be assessed for grid tie inverters.
There are many other discussion points about the testing and we will prepare a webpage for this subject once we have feedback from the regulators and the committee.

Acceptable Reports

Please refer to our terms and conditions for examples of acceptable reports:
4. Test Report
Test Reports must be endorsed and from a recognised and acceptable laboratory and may be the original or a certified copy as detailed in the Form Guides. An abbreviated listing is set out below:
– A NATA report or from a laboratory accredited by a laboratory accreditation body which has a mutual recognition agreement with NATA (see ILAC and APLAC); or
– A CB Test Report issued under the IECEE CB Scheme. CBTL without certificate but TMP, WMT & SMT with CB Certificate.[:]

PV (Photovoltaic Arrays)

There are specific requirements for PV equipment in Australia which are unique. There has been an update to AS/NZS 5033. This comes into force on 16 October 2012 and this standard will apply to all PV installations with power of 240W or greater and open circuit voltage of 50V or greater. The full name of this standard is AS/NZS 5033:2012 Installation and safety requirements for photovoltaic (PV) arrays. The safety requirements of this Standard are critically dependent on the inverters associated with PV arrays complying with the requirements of IEC 62109-1 and IEC 62109-2 and all power conditioning equipment complying with IEC 62109 series standards. As well as these standards, the inverter must also comply with AS 4777.2-2005 Grid connection of energy systems via inverters – Inverter requirements. Consideration must also be given to AS 4777.1 which specifies the installation requirements and AS 4777.3 which specifies the requirements for any grid protection devices. There is a further revision due for AS 4777 which will tie it more closely to the requirements of AS/NZS 3000 and also will increase the scope for larger systems. There is no sign of it at this stage however and we will advise as soon as more information comes available.
The changes to AS/NZS 5033 are far-reaching and if you are involved in this business, we strongly recommend purchasing the standard and studying it.
What this change essentially means is that from October 16, in order to certify these devices, we will need reports to  IEC 62109-1 and IEC 62109-2, AS/NZS 3100 as well as AS 4777.2 and AS4777.3 if applicable.

Reminder of the Amendment to AS/NZS 3197

An amendment has been published for 3197: AS/NZS 3197:2005/Amdt 2:2012 Approval and test specification – Portable electrical control or conditioning devices. The most critical part of this amendment is that it states that “Electrical portable outlet devices that are within the scope of AS/NZS 3105 but having condition and control device functions, remain within the scope of AS/NZS 3105 and are tested to that standard with any additional requirements of the conditioning device of AS/NZS 3197 being applied.”. This is a significant shift in testing and reporting which needs to be followed.

Frequently Asked Questions

These are really useful! FAQs

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New Premises

We are pleased to announce that we have moved to new premises at 5/20 Rivergate Place, Murarrie which is the same suburb of Brisbane we have been in for the past few years. The new building overlooks the marina on the Brisbane River and are light and modern. If any of our customers are in the area, we now have a great facility to welcome you in. The phones and PO Box have stayed the same, so you can contact us in the usual way.

Reports

We have been advised by our accreditors, JAS ANZ that we now require endorsed test reports in order to accept them for Certificates of Approval. This means that the test laboratory issuing the report must have been accredited for the standard covering the report by an ILAC registered accreditation body, such as NATA in Australia, or CNAL in China. This is of critical importance and we will be helping our clients ensure this requirement is met when we are assessing approvals.

Terms and Conditions

As a regulatory business, it is really important for us and for you that our terms and conditions are read and followed – not like those software agreements!!! The T’s and C’s have been developed in accordance with our accreditation body, JAS-ANZ and are vital in setting out our responsibilities and obligations as well as yours when you are making an application to have a product certified. If you need to have a catch-up on them, please see https://www.saaapprovals.com.au/files/S-0110_Conditions_&_Obligations.pdf. There is also a Chinese language version available here: https://www.saaapprovals.com.au/files/Terms_Conditions_&_Obiligations_S-0110-CN_Ver%201.pdf[:]