German Testing & Certification OfficesVDE testing departmentThe VDE testing department issues a "certificate with production monitoring" on request. This includes the virgin test of relays according to the VDE specification applied for, production inspection and the monitoring of production by the VDE testing department. Furthermore, the VDE testing department carries out expert examinations according to a VDE specification on samples without production monitoring and certifies the result in an "expert's report". Moreover, it is possible to have information examinations carried out under adherence to individual paragraphs of VDE specifications. The results are documented in a test report for the information of the applicant. The "expert's report without production monitoring" as well as the "test report" contain the result of a one-off examination. It does not represent an assessment of the VDE testing department that is generally applicable to the characteristics of relays tested in continuous production. CECC (ECQAC) Manufacturer recognition by the VDE testing department as the national regulatory agency for the harmonized quality assurance system formed by CECC (CENELEC committee for electronic components) and ECQAC (committee for quality assurance of electronic components). This means that the organization, facilities and monitoring measures as well as the measures taken for the quality assurance of particular manufacturing plants comply with the requirements of the document CECC 00100 for quality assurance concerning the manufacture of the families of the components in question. The recognition number for the manufacturing plant named is specified in all of the relevant documents. PTB In areas of explosive hazard, electrical production facilities may only be brought into operation if a type test certificate exists for them. The physical-technical office (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt - PTB) carries out the inspections required for this on request and issues the relevant test certificates. The PTB has access to the production department in order to be able to inspect the manufacturing process in situ. TÜV The technical inspection association (Technischer Überwachungsverein - TÜV) tests relays according to the appropriate VDE regulations as well as according to the "safety regulations", e.g. for the control of power-driven presses and for the fulfillment of forcibly guided contacts, and issues an authorization certificate. |