We wish to make a statement to address the persistent rumours in the market about the acceptance, or otherwise of SAA certificates in various States in Australia and New Zealand. Please read this statement very carefully.

Firstly, it is important to note that if you have an SAA certificate, this is accepted in all of Australia and New Zealand. This is true for all certificates we have issued and will be true for all certificates we issue in the future. SAA will always ensure that the certificate complies with the law in each State and covers the essential safety requirements of the standards listed on the certificate.

Secondly, it is important to note that all electrical safety regulatory authorities continue to work together on the Electrical Regulatory Authorities Council (ERAC) committee to ensure public safety when using electrical equipment. There is no disagreement when it comes to electrical safety. SAA is completely committed to supporting the efforts of all regulatory authorities.

Thirdly, it is important that all suppliers understand that any electrical equipment must comply with the general electrical safety standard, AS/NZS 3820, no matter the regulatory classification of the equipment.

As most of you will be aware, there has been a significant change to the management of the RCM mark in Australia following the conclusion of the ERAC review into the regulation of electrical equipment. The ERAC review led to the development of the Electrical Equipment Safety System (EESS). The key new features of the EESS are as follows:

1. All household products are regulated, not just declared articles. Industrial and Commercial products are excluded from the regulations.
2. Regulated products are split into 3 separate risk levels (1 – lower risk, 2-medium risk, 3- high risk).
3. The RCM  has become specific to the EESS in the States which are participating in the EESS and the rules for using it for electrical safety have changed and are listed in AS/NZS 4417.2.
4. The RCM mark is required to be applied on the product for any regulated product in participating States, not just the level 3 high risk items.
5. The real importer (known in Australia as the Responsible Supplier) must register their business, and any level 3 certificates on the centralised database, known as the EESS Registration Database. Foreign companies do not do this, not through agents either.  Only the initial importer needs to register, subsequent sellers who buy from the Responsible Supplier do not.
6. Certifiers (e.g. SAA) upload any certificates issued under the EESS on the EESS Register.
7. The EESS Registration Database is searchable nationwide to quickly identify suppliers and support enforcement.
8. Sets out clear rules for the use of the system in the Equipment Safety Rules and in the RCM standard series AS/NZS 4417.
9. Uses the fees collected to conduct enhanced market surveillance of regulated products.

At this stage, the States which are participating in the EESS are Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia. New Zealand recently announced through a newsletter that they will recognise certificates issued under the EESS, provided that the Responsible Supplier has registered on the EESS Registration Database and complies with all of the EESS requirements.

As you can see, New South Wales has chosen to not participate in the EESS at this stage. We will discuss the significance of this below.

Under the EESS, SAA must participate as a Recognised External Certification Scheme (RECS). The Queensland Government administers the RECS on behalf of the other participating States in the EESS. A RECS is required to ensure that any equipment which does not comply with the Equipment Safety Rules does not get certified. Most of the process for SAA under the RECS is ensuring that the equipment complies with the electrical safety standard specific to the equipment, AS/NZS 3820, the Equipment Safety Rules and the terms of our RECS which have been gazetted specifically for SAA by the Queensland Government. Queensland audit us regularly to ensure that this is the case and SAA remains committed to working with the Queensland regulator to ensure that the detail and spirit of their regulations and laws are adhered to by all of our customers. SAA remains supportive of the EESS and the effort to ensure safe public use of electrical equipment.

What this all means is that when you make an application for a product in the scope of the EESS, we will issue a RECS certificate and ensure that you have complied with all of the requirements of the EESS.

For New South Wales, the rules for regulated products are the same as they have been for some time.

In New South Wales, the Government issues an official gazette from time to time which specifies the products which are subject to regulation in their State and are known as Declared Articles. The list is very similar to the list of level 3 high risk products listed in AS/NZS 4417.2, but is not exactly the same. Unless the definition in the NSW gazette explicitly states that it is only applied to household products, then the definition potentially applies to products used in commercial or industrial settings. This is true for example for residual current devices.

To issue certificates for use in New South Wales, we participate in the Recognised External Approval Scheme (REAS). This scheme has a set of conditions for all participants which are set by the Minister and with which we agree to comply. The technical process for review of the test report is exactly the same as when we operate as a RECS, but we must also ensure that the documentation provided as evidence of compliance complies with the conditions set by the Minister and that the product we are certifying fits into the declaring definition of the most recent gazette. At this stage, the NSW REAS conditions allow the use of the RCM or the full SAA-XXXXXX-EA number as a mark of compliance.

New South Wales recently made it clear that they cannot legally accept RECS certificates as proof of compliance with electrical safety law in their State. To prevent market disruption, SAA has retrospectively recognised all RECS certificates issued for NSW declared articles as also being REAS certificates and this has been accepted by the NSW Office of Fair Trading. For the owners of these certificates, there is nothing further to do.

There is also a proposal by New South Wales to change the ministerial conditions under which the Recognised External Approval Schemes (REAS) operate. Most of the changes will not affect you. However, there is a proposed clarification in the new draft REAS conditions to remove the RCM as an accepted mark of compliance for any REAS certificate to reflect the current, exclusive use of the RCM by the EESS, which would require the full SAA-XXXXXX-EA number to be marked. We are still discussing this with NSW and do not know for certain how they will proceed to reflect this requirement. However, it is important to note this will only affect certificates issued after the Minister changes the conditions and we will give you plenty of notice if this happens. Any certificates we have already issued under any of the schemes and any certificates we issue right up until the future conditions change are unaffected.

It is worth noting that SAA has always required in our terms and conditions that certificate holders mark the full SAA number on any certified product, but this a contractual obligation and is not required by electrical safety law.

In summary, there is no need to change the way you apply for a certificate. SAA will ensure your certificate is accepted everywhere. The marking requirements have not changed yet and if they do change, we will give you enough time to make the change.

首先，很重要的一点，如果您已经持有了SAA证书，那么请周知，该证书是被澳大利亚全部州和新西兰认可的。这一点适用于目前我司已经签发的所有证书，并且将适用于未来所有的SAA证书。SAA将会一直确保我司签发的证书符合各州的法律要求，并涵盖了证书上所列标准所需的安全要求。

其次，请周知，所有的电气安全监管机构都持续在ERAC委员会指导下工作， 致力于确保电气设备使用过程中的公共安全。所有机构在这方面的要求是一致的。SAA完全致力于支持并完成所有监管机构的要求。

第三，所有的供应商都需要明白，无论监管机构如何定义分类，所有的电气设备都必须符合电气安全基础标准的要求，即AS/NZS 3820的要求。

正如您所知，澳大利亚RCM标志将会有一些重大调整，该调整将会在ERAC对于电气设备法规的复审完成后公布。此次ERAC复审带来的EESS的一些调整。关键点如下：

1. 所有家用产品都属于管制范围，不仅仅是强制类产品。工业设备和商用设备不在此范围内。
2. 管制内产品被分成3个危险等级(1-低风险，2-中风险，3-高风险) 。
3. 对于所有加入了EESS的各州，RCM的要求已经具体化，請参照AS/NZS 4417.2。
4. RCM标志要求适用于所有参与州的管制产品，不仅仅是三级高风险类产品。
5. 实际上的进口商（在澳大利亚称之为应责供应商）必须在EESS数据库中登记注册他们的商务信息及其所持有的3级证书。外国公司本身不需要进行此操作，亦不需要通过其代理进行。只有最初的进口商需要进行注册，从应责供应商处购买产品的下级分销商也不需要进行注册。
6. 认证机构（例如SAA）负责将EESS体系下签发的证书上传至EESS数据库。
7. EESS注册数据库可进行全国范围内的检索，以快速识别供应商及其相关执行情况。
8. 设备安全法规以及AS/NZS 4417中清楚列明了该系统的使用规范。
9. 利用费用来实施管制产品的市场强化管制.

现阶段参与了EESS的州为：昆士兰，维多利亚，塔斯马尼亚，西澳大利亚。新西兰近期发布了一个公告，宣布认可EESS签发的证书，前提是应责供应商在EESS数据库里进行了注册，并且符合其所有法律法规要求.

正如您所见，现阶段新南威尔士州选择不参与EESS. 我们将会在以下部分讨论此举的意义：

在EESS的管理下， SAA必须参与RECS体系。昆士兰州政府代表其他所有参与EESS的州政府管理RECS。 RECS是为了确保所有不符合电气安全规则的产品不会得到证书。在RECS体系下，大部分SAA的处理流程是为了确保产品满足其相对应的电器安全标准，AS/NZS 3820，电器安全守则和昆士兰政府关于RECS对SAA制定的要求。 昆士兰政府定期对我公司进行评审以确保我们所有的客户熟知并遵守法律法规。SAA一直支持EESS 并且努力确保人民用电安全。

所有这些是为了说明，当您为EESS管理范围内的产品申请证书时，我们会发放RECS证书并且确保您的产品满足所有EESS的要求。

新南威尔士州针对监管产品的要求与之前一样。

新南威尔士州政府会定期发布一份官方公报。公报中会详细定义哪些产品在新州属于被监管产品也就是强制性认证产品。这个目录与AS/NZS 4417.2中level 3 （3级）高风险产品目录非常相似，但并不完全一样。除非该类产品在新州官方公报中被明确指出只适用于家用电器产品，其他产品可适用于商用或者工用电器产品，比如漏电保护器。

为了颁发新南威尔士州通用的证书， 我们也参与了REAS体系。执政部长对所有的参与公司制定了一些规定，我们同意并遵守这些规定。在技术方面， 审核RECS报告与审核REAS报告完全一样， 但同时我们必须确保所有的申请文件满足执政部长制定的规定， 并且产品必须满足最新版本官方公报中的定义。

新南威尔士州政府最近发表声明称RECS证书将不再作为产品符合新州电气安全法规的有效依据。新州将不再接受RECS证书。为了避免市场分裂，SAA已经向新州政府确认， SAA之前颁发的所有RECS证书，如果这些产品也属于新州的强制性认证产品，那么这些产品仍然可以在新州销售。这些证书的持有者不需要有任何担心。

新南威尔士州政府起草了一份关于REAS体系下的组织监管条件建议书。 大部分变化不会影响到你们。然而，在最新的REAS文件草稿中有一个提议：RCM标识不再作为REAS证书认可标识。为了证明REAS证书有效可能会需要在产品标签上印上全部SAA-XXXXXX-EA 证书标号。我们仍然在与新南威尔士州政府沟通这件事，但我们不知道他们最后会选择哪种方式去满足这个要求。然而，最重要的是要知道这些只会影响那些在政策改变后颁发的证书。如果政策已经确定， 我们会颁布许多相关公告。所有我们之前颁发的证书，无论是在哪个体系下，都不会受到任何影响。同时，从现在开始一直到政策改变前颁发的证书也不会受到任何影响。

值得注意的是，SAA一直要求证书持有人将SAA证书编号印在所有被认证的产品上，但这只是合同义务并不是电气安全法规的要求。

综上所诉，各位不需要改变你们原有的申请方式。SAA会确保你们的证书在所有地区通用。关于标识的要求还没有改变。一旦新的规定出台，我们会尽快通知大家，并且给大家充足的时间去做调整。