The application procedure of UL certification
 

1. The applicant shall fill out the UL pre application form and fax and send the application form with the product instruction with the technical documents to us.
2. The technical documents required by the applicant are contained:
a, product manual.
b, documents about security design (including the key structure diagram, which can reflect the design of the distance, clearance, insulation number and thickness)
c, product technical conditions (or enterprise standards).
d, Product schematic diagram
e, product line diagram
f, inventory of key components or raw material (please choose the products with UL certification mark)
g, The machine or safety components / Photocopy of raw material certification
h, describe information about the product name and its intended use, include model, proper series description and list. If you apply for different models in the same product at the same time, you need to specify the similarities and differences between the models and the specified prototype, which will help reduce the test time and reduce the cost of the test.
3.According to the information provided by the applicant（English）(if you need to apply for the CUL sign at the same time, please specify), The UL will determine the relevant test standards and make an offer(excluding factory inspection fee for the first time).
4. If the applicant accepts the offer, he will sign the quotation.
5. UL issued a formal agreement
6. Read and sign the application form carefully and follow up the service agreement, and pay test fee (dollar) and test or agency fee (RMB) as required. Send the sample to the designated laboratory as requested.
7. Conduct the product inspection, if the product does not meet the requirements, the UL will notify the applicant of the non - conformity, and the applicant shall decide whether to make a change or re - send the sample.
8. We want customers to buy UL standards so that you can understand the requirements of UL.
9. After the product test has passed, the UL inspection department will visit the whole factory, to determine whether the production meets the program requirements (IPI). When IPI pass, the applicant will ship the product with the UL logo.
10. The UL inspection department will visit the factory regularly to help your listed products consistently meet the safety requirements of UL. Need to pay: factory inspection fee and certificate maintenance fee.
11. note: parts / raw material list--please provide with your product list of safety components or materials, requirements include manufacturer's name, model specification, or his rating, and whether to obtain UL approval or column name. We have provided a blank sheet / material list for your reference.
 
Matters needing attention in UL certification application
1.  Let the UL engineer know the type of product you want to test, the performance, the use, and the working environment of the product
a) The product to be tested seems fairly simple, but lack of the language, it often leads to unexpected results after repeated translation from English to Chinese. For one simple example, a factory in Zhejiang would like to apply for UL certification of "wiring harness" (assembly with wires and terminals, inserts), The Zhejiang area is used to be called a wiring harness as a connector". If you turn in the Chinese English dictionary, you will find the English word "connector" "Connector"".So the factory applied for the "Connector" certification, It took a lot of time and effort, and of course, you can imagine it, the UL only allow "terminals" (including metal inserts and plastic pieces outside) produced by the plant, with UL markings instead of wire harnesses. In fact, all of the terminals of the plant (Connector) are outsourced. Therefore, when applying for certification, you should ensure the correctness of the product name, unless you have one hundred percent certainty, UL will recommends that you confirm your product's English name in advance to UL's office in China, which is one of the responsibilities of the office.
b)   One product, if the potential use is different, the method of testing will be quite different. For example, the same string of Christmas lights, there is a big difference between indoor and outdoor, Simple, indoor light string does not need rain test, and outdoor light string is necessary. Again, if your socket is only for 110V voltage, you don't have to test it for 220V. This shows that there is no need to expand the range of your product unless you intend to use your product for this new condition. On the contrary, it cannot narrow the scope of application. If you produce a plastic for 105 degrees, in order to save costs, you only apply for a 90 degree environment, although your products through the UL certification, but your customers cannot regard it as UL products for 105 degree environment. This is certainly what you don't want to see. Therefore, you should fully explain the scope of the use of your products, and not to waste your time and expenses, and bring unnecessary losses to you. For electrical, electronic products, these ranges of applications are voltage, current, power factor, environmental temperature, and so on. If you are not familiar with these ranges of use, please contact to your engineer.
2.  Explain the differences between different models
If you have multiple types of similar products to apply for certification, or similar products you have to apply for UL certification, please explain the similarities and differences between these models, this can help UL engineers decide to reduce unnecessary repetitive testing to reduce your expense and test time. For example, there are two types of relays applied for authentication, one is a set of contacts, and the other is two kinds of contacts, the engineer will only pay special attention to the another set of contacts for second types of products during the test without repeating all the tests.
3.  Make a list of raw materials or components for your product
UL control the entire product through control the raw material or components of the product, therefore, it requires the customer to explain the source of each component when delivering the product. Once these components are confirmed, you do not change them at will, if you want to use other alternatives from the other factories; you must obtain the UL approval and may test your product again. Otherwise, the UL examiner will find you in trouble. There is some skill in writing this list: First of all, you should explain your components’ supplier, quantity, model, main index and certification authority in this list. If your component is UL approved, it is best to explain the applicant's UL file number (FILENUMBER) that can eliminates a lot of testing for the component. Again, for some of the key components, just choose more suppliers; UL will include these eligible products in the tracking inspection rules. In this way, when you want to change a supplier, you will not cause unnecessary trouble due to the provisions of the UL rules.
You can refer to a list with the following table.
Component
No、
Manufacturer
ModelNo、
Ratings
Certification
Enclosure 1ActiveCorpLtd、U-12105C94V-0UL(E170432) orNewCentryceleron105C94V-0UL(E14321) orWendIndustrytypeK105C94V-0UL(E187621)
(Wire)2pcsZhejiangNewsGroup1007105C300VUL/CSA(E132)
(Base)1GEUSALexin141105C94V-0UL(E77321)
Although many people believe that the list is more ambiguous to be better, because it can reduces the restrictions on you. Maybe it's a skill, But the side effect is that UL engineers might write to you again, and let you specify the supplier of some components, at this point, you have no choice. It will delay your time. UL online are only favors the robust techniques.
 
4.   List all your production sites
If you produce the certified product in several different places, please tell UL all of these factory names and addresses. UL only uses UL tags for specific plants in authorize specific addresses. The same factory in different address of the branch, or different address of the collaboration factory, they need to explain to UL beforehand, sign up service agreement with UL, and included in the tracking inspection service details, otherwise, the other production sites using UL markers are illegal production sites. The UL has the right to demand severe punishment from Chinese law.
 
5.   Keep good relationship with UL
The UL lab will do the following work after receiving the customer's Application, please confirm the steps in the application process: The customer consultant will reply to the customer and confirm receipt of your application, Also notify you of the UL standard used in the evaluation of the product and the name of the head of the engineering team who responsible for the delivery of the product.
When after the UL engineer received the needed technical data and making the product inspection plan, UL will sends letters to customers, The contents include a brief introduction, the scope of inspection, the name and quantity of the required sample, the estimated cost of the trial and the prepayment. And UL will accompany a formal application form to you.
The application form with a duplicate copy, including product name, model number, name and address of the manufacturer, name and address of the applicant, the applicant's file number, expected date of project completion and maximum cost, etc. The application form is basically a formal agreement or a contract between the applicant and the UL laboratory. It includes the terms of the agreement, the parties concerned and the products.
After receiving the reply and application form from UL, the customer must take the following steps:
Send an application form signed by the person in charge of the unit to the UL engineer who is in charge of the project, another copy is filed as a factory file. Send an advance payment to UL or telegraphic transfer to the account of UL's bank account in all parts of the United States, send or fax the remittance voucher to the corresponding UL engineer.
Send the sample to the UL Project Engineer directly. Please indicate the name of UL project engineer, the applicant's name, file number, item number, sample type and quantity, etc.. The sample can be taken directly from the production line or pre manufactured product, or a specially made sample. However, the components and materials used in these samples shall be the same as those of the official product.
In all correspondence letters with UL about your product, Please specify the file number, If it is in the test process, please indicate the project number, this will help the engineer to process your letter quickly and correctly.
During the test, the customer will receive a tracking inspection protocol". If a number of manufacturers participate in the manufacture of similar products, they will receive more than one agreement. The agreement is marked with the manufacturer's name in two copies. The "tracking inspection agreement" shall be signed by the manufacturer's principal or authorized person and sent back to the UL laboratory. UL will sign one of them and send it back to the factory. This is the inspection contract signed between the factory and the UL, which is legally effective and should be kept in good care.
If UL has a definite requirement for your plant on the production line or test equipment, UL will send personnel to the factory for acceptance, therefore, the required equipment should be prepared in advance, usually, at the start of the project, the engineer will inform the factory, If there is no such information, it is usually not required.