Safety of electrical appliances

EU laws require that a manufacturer is able to provide evidence that his products are safe and compliant. This evidence is stored in the ‘technical file’. The technical file must be in place before the product is placed on the EU market. The technical file must be stored for 10 years after the product was sold so that it can be shown, on request, to market surveillance authorities in the EU within 10 working days.

Contents of the technical file

• A report from the pre-production risk assessment.
• A general description of the product and any version of the product (different colours, wattages, sizes or other).
• Conceptual and construction drawings including drawings of circuit boards and diagrams of the electrical circuitry as applicable.
• Descriptions and explanations necessary to understand drawings.
• Results from any calculations that may have been made during the design phase.
• Results of examinations and tests that have been carried out on components or subassemblies.
• Test reports from all the tests that have been undertaken to show that the final product complies with all applicable legal requirements from all applicable directives.
• A list of the standards that have been applied to demonstrate that the product complies.
• An EU Declaration of Conformity for the product, signed by the manufacturer.
• A copy of the user manual.
• A copy of the marking plate for the product.

The contents may vary from one directive to another so manufacturers should check the relevant Annex in all the directives that apply to the product to ensure that the list is complete.

Test laboratories

It is not mandatory to involve an independent test laboratory in the testing of electrical products. However, test laboratories can assist with technically complicated testing or if the manufacturer does not have the in-house knowledge.

They provide the manufacturer with a critical review of the design which increases their certainty that the product is safe and compliant.

Many European importers have more confidence in products that come with a test report from an independent test laboratory.

Confidentiality

The technical file contains a lot of commercially sensitive information, but only the market surveillance authorities have the right to see the technical file. The manufacturer is not obliged to publish the file or give it to their customers.