Legal
Requirements of Selling and Importing Electrical Products and Equipment
All Electrical product and equipment must comply with the safety criteria of AS/NZS 3820 - Essential safety requirements for low voltage electrical equipment. This standard sets out the principles of electrical safety and states that compliance with the relevant Australian/New Zealand safety standard for each class of product is required for compliance or where there is no specific standard the general safety criteria must be met.
Specific types of electrical equipment and products must be certified under law before they can be sold. These are called Declared Articles, Prescribed Items or In-Scope Level 3 Electrical equipment and these must be certified in accordance with regulatory requirements prior to sale. The equipment must, by law, also be marked with the regulatory compliance Mark (RCM). In addition, the certification number is required by NSW and under the Aicas TCO’s.
It is an offence for a person to sell declared/prescribed/level 3 electrical equipment unless the electrical equipment has been certified in accordance with the compliance requirements of the individual States of Australia and New Zealand.
In the States where the RCM is the mandatory mark, any household products must comply with the requirements for the specific electrical equipment type in accordance with the AS/NZS 4417 series of standards. This may also include EMC compliance.
Non-declared/non-prescribed/level 1&2 electrical equipment does not require mandatory certification prior to sale. However, the manufacturer, importer and/or seller has a legal obligation to ensure equipment is electrically safe. Note that it is an offence for a person to sell non-declared electrical products unless the electrical product complies with the relevant Australian standard/s or IEC standard/s where there is no applicable AS/NZS standard and is electrically safe.
Overseas certification marks for electrical equipment and appliances are generally not recognised as acceptable for compliance with the law except in certain cases. In particular, CE certification is definitely not recognised or acceptable for the lawful compliance requirements for electrical products in Australia or New Zealand.
To ensure compliance with Australian and New Zealand requirements it is necessary to have the equipment tested to the applicable Australian Standard and then have the product certified by AICAS. For other equipment not mandated for certification, the seller of electrical equipment has the obligation to ensure the electrical safety of any electrical product they sell. The best way to fulfill this obligation is for manufacturers and importers is to voluntarily submit for certification any non-declared electrical product that they wish to sell. This reduces the risk of your product being recalled due to a safety risk.
Aicas also provides an Electro Magnetic Compliance (EMC) service including a certificate and declaration of compliance with the mandatory EMC requirements. Note: any electrical equipment or appliances that includes any type of automatic switching devices and/or emit radio frequencies are captured under Australia’s EMC requirements.
For details of In-scope electrical equipment and Declared Articles see:
Defined Electrical Products-Combined List
General list of Electrical Equipment and Appliances
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