Certification introduction

The Ministry of knowledge economy (mke) of South Korea announced on August 25, 2008 that the national standards committee will implement a new national unified certification mark called "KC mark" from July 2009 to December 2010.

The new logo is called KC mark, representing Korea certification. Since July 1, 2009, South Korea has unified the original EK mark into KC mark. Since the mark conversion does not affect the certification safety standard, the original certificate does not need to be changed. However, the original EK mark will only be used until June 30, 2011. After that, the logo on the product nameplate must be converted into KC mark before it can be sold in South Korea. And the current 13 mandatory signs will be finally unified under this new sign. One result of this initiative is to reduce the supplier's expenditure on certification fees and make KC mark in Korea gradually become a certification of a world brand. However, there is a drawback. The KCC logo just issued recently will only be implemented for a few years and will eventually be unified under the new KC logo.

KC mark certification products list

According to the provisions of the Korean electrical supplies safety management law, since january1,2009, the safety certification of electrical supplies has been divided into compulsory certification and self regulatory (voluntary) certification.

Mandatory certification means that all electronic products belonging to mandatory products can be sold in the Korean market only after obtaining KC mark certification. They need to be subject to Factory review and product sampling test every year. The certificate does not have a valid period.

Self regulatory (voluntary) certification means that all electronic products belonging to voluntary products only need to test and obtain certificates, and do not need to be subject to Factory review. The certificate is valid for 5 years.

Note: all electrical products with power supply voltage between 50V and 1000V shall be certified:

1. cords, cables and cord set

2. switches for electrical appliances

3. Capacitors or filters as components for power supply unit

4. Installation accessories and connection devices

5. Installation protective equipment

6. safety transformer and similar equipment

7. Household and similar equipment appliances

8. Motor tools

9. audio, video and analog electronic appliances

10. It and office appliances

11. Lighting machines

12. Appliance with power supply or charger

Compulsory safety certification products adopt the fifth certification mode, i.e. shape type test + Factory review; Voluntary safety certification products shall be certified in the mode of type test + safety confirmation statement. Most electronic and electrical products must meet the requirements of safety and EMC standards at the same time. KC certified products must be affixed with KC certification mark before they can be sold in the Korean market.

Audio visual (AV) products, some information (it) products and power supplies for personal computer, which were originally non mandatory, are classified as "voluntary safety verification", and the certificate is valid for five years.

Technical data required for application

1. Application form for safety certification

2. Product descriptions (or user's manuals)

3. List of critical components

4. Insulation material catalog (designated products)

5. Product circuit diagram

6. Letter of authorization

7. Marking label

8. Questionnaire

9. Specification of transformer

10. Prepare samples (the number of samples depends on the product type) (products)

If a product is produced by several independent factories, although the products are of the same model, several factories shall obtain the certification mark at the same time. Overseas manufacturers can apply directly or authorize local agents and representative manufacturers in South Korea to apply.

KC certified factory review

The factory needs to be reviewed after the first application for factory safety authorization in South Korea.

According to the requirements of the safety law, the preliminary assessment of the factory's quality control system is carried out, involving the following aspects:

The factory shall produce certified products that are consistent with the qualified samples confirmed by the certification authority in accordance with the requirements of product certification implementation measurement and factory quality assurance capability. According to the relevant laws of Korea safety certification and the relevant regulations of Korea Industrial Technology Testing Institute (KTL), your factory shall have the following documented procedures or regulations, which shall be compatible with the factory quality management and product quality control:

1) Product change control procedure

(example: after the change declaration of certified products is approved by the certification authority, the relevant department shall formulate corresponding technical documents in strict accordance with the approved changes and distribute them to the relevant departments to correctly implement the changes of certified products. The unapproved changes cannot be applied with certification marks on the changed products.)

2) Document and data control procedure

3) The quality record control procedure {shall include a record retention period of at least 3 years (only incoming, routine and operational inspection records are required)}

4) Routine inspection and confirmation inspection procedure

5) Nonconforming product control procedure

6) Inspection or verification procedures for key components and materials

7) Internal quality audit procedure

8) Process operation instructions, inspection standards, instrument and equipment operation procedures, management system and other procedures

The factory shall keep at least the following quality records to confirm that the factory has indeed carried out all production inspections and production tests, and the quality records shall be true and effective:

9) Product routine inspection and confirmation inspection records:

Incoming inspection / verification records of key components and materials and qualification certificates provided by the supplier

① Records of regular calibration or verification of inspection and test equipment;

② Routine inspection and confirmation (operation) inspection records

③ Daily spot inspection records of safety equipment on production line (workshop)

④ Disposal records of nonconforming products (incoming, routine and operation);

⑤ Records of internal audit;

⑥ Records of corrective actions taken in response to customer complaints;

⑦ Nonconformity correction records of operation inspection;

KC certification annual factory inspection

The Korean Safety Law stipulates that after accepting the application, the factory shall be subject to the first factory review. After the certificate is authorized, the certification body will conduct an annual follow-up review of the factory every year, mainly to check the consistency of the factory's quality control system and whether it can continue to comply with the standards of the safety law.

The annual Factory review is divided into two parts:

1) The requirements and contents of quality documents, quality records and relevant contents of the manufacturing site are basically the same as those of the initial review.

2) It is necessary to confirm the consistency of all products authorized by KC mark. Confirm the key components, materials, circuits, structures, etc. of the certified products according to the attached pages of the product authorization certificate (list of key components) to see whether they are consistent.

Sampling requirements:

Up to now, there are 216 kinds of products included in the scope of KC mark compulsory certification. South Korea's safety law stipulates that all kinds of products are sampled every year, so each product is sampled once a year. The factory inspector shall conduct the annual review. When there is production or inventory on site, the inspector shall seal the samples, and the factory shall send the samples to the designated address within 3 months. When there is no production or inventory at the time of Factory review, the factory must send the designated samples to the designated address within 6 months

Test time

KC certification considerations

According to the provisions of South Korea's safety management law on electrical supplies, domestic or foreign manufacturers must obtain South Korea safety certification before importing electronic products to South Korea.

1. The KC applicant must be a manufacturing plant.

2. The products shall comply with Korean safety standard (k standard), and the IEC standard shall at least meet Korean requirements.

3. EMI requirements are similar to CISPR standards.

4. EMS requirements are similar to IEC standards.

5. Rated voltage of household power supply: AC 110V, 220V, 380V.

6. Rated frequency of power supply: 60Hz

7. The power plug shall comply with ksc8305 (Korean industrial standard) or any standard of A1-15, a5-15, C2B, C4, C1b, C3b, C6 in iec60083.