The Wholesale Forums

[jonouk]

Ok I am in the Uk and the CE certification I understand the necessity to control less than fit for purpose standards etc. Now I spoke with an exporter, yes I know here we go, in China. Have you got CE certification for this, I asked. Oh yes, well send me certificates. Certificates arrived, and as expected not what I thought. They are CE certificates for parts of the Product, electric bicycles by the way. Now that is BS and I said so, they tell me, But that is OK for you, the parts have CE certificate. Totally wrong and desperate I think, apart from the fact that the list of parts supplied were much less than the sum total of parts required to build a bike. I have come to the conclusion that these products are simply not there. Having no CE certificate is a waste of time and money, they will be seized as soon as spotted. Furthermore If I did supply one to a customer, for starters I would be hell of a uncomfortable lest something should happen to the user, secondly if something did happen to a user, I would be in serious trouble for supplying dodgy products.

Correct? I think so anyway.

Man these scammers are unbelievable, they try ever so hard to become your best mate!! and they just slit your throat. Money is the big temptation for them though, he made a mistake in admitting that he earns approx 130 euros a month! and they see all these dollars floating around and it's totally worth their while. It is a shame in a way that these guys ruin it all for all the legitimate traders, it's always the same, the few bad apples, or in this case the damned barrel has a lot of rotten apples right through. You know he even had the audacity to ask for the forum web site address so he could check it out, yeah right, I have seen that happen before on other sites, it's like a plague of locusts going through, just a nightmare and maximum nuisance factor.

I guess the moral of all this is, as it is said time and time again, slow down and check to the max, and always err on the side of caution.

JonO

[consultant]

Depending on the items, parts can be CE approved and the complete, finished unit must be.

As for your third party worries, make sure you have public liability insurance!

[jonouk]

Hello again, been around the block a few times since this post, I have been speaking to the CE certification people in the Netherlands. It seems that samples in some instances are Ok to come in with minimal CE certification, but they must be clearly written and stated "Samples"

As i think the general information of the mail I got from the CE people may be of interest to others, and is applicable to all CE marked goods I have added it to this mail, FYI............ From;
Consultants Europe BV
Technical & Legal Department
Nieuwstraat 60
1381 BD Weesp
The Netherlands
P.O. Box 5047
1380 GA Weesp
The Netherlands
T: +31 294 483 355

The European product legislation states that products cannot be sold traded
or put into use if they do not comply to the CE marking directives
applicable for the product concerned. If you are importing a sample it must
be clearly indicated on the official paper work that it is a sample and will
not be sold, traded or put into use. The final product concerned must be CE
marked if it is to be put into use in Europe.

As we have certification offices in China we can certify the goods for
you thus tacking the complete responsibility for the certification.

Please note the regulations state that there must be a responsible party in
Europe who act as Authorized Representative for with regard to the CE
marking and liability in Europe. The law states that there must be an
appointed party in Europe who is responsible and liable for the CE marking
and the liability of the products. If the surveillance authorities have
questions regarding the product or if there is a claim due to damage then
the authorities contact the responsible party in Europe. It is the
responsibility of the producer to produce the product conforming to European
product requirements otherwise they cannot be sold or traded on the European
market. The authorized representation also
includes the keeping up to date of the technical files and carrying the
responsibility for all questions regarding European CE marking
certification.

If we certify the products we carry this out for you.

[consultant]

This is correct, however, this should not be used as a way around importing products without the right approvals.

Products tested/approved to CE show they are safe for consumer use. How would you feel if something you sold caused death or injury to someone?

ALL MEMBERS - PLEASE DO NOT TRADE IN UNAPPROVED PRODUCTS, FOR THE SAKE OF A FEW CENTS SAVING - PEOPLES LIVES ARE WORTH MORE THAN THAT!

[jonouk]

Well I agree of course, and I wouldn't do that. The information I learned about samples was from the CE specialists themselves and they state quite rightly that no sample must be sold on if it doesn't meet the standards, as you know. My original query to them was based on products coming in to the UK with partial CE marking i.e. CE on the components. I was concerned I would be breaking the laws you see, and have them confiscated in the first place. It seems that some companies will CE a complete machine when the need arises, if that were to ariseI would need to arrange the Chinese contact of the company to carry out the CE in full. There again, It might be easier to just source companies that already have the full CE certifications for their completed machines, as there are plenty companies making them. I am in the meantime forwarding any certifications to the CE people in the Netherlands so they can pass an expert eye over them, and keep me up to date on new procedures etc.

[consultant]

finding acompany that has already jumped through the CE hoops will be a lot better than hoping a new company can!