06.08.2010

Notified Body warning

IPAF has issued a warning over CE approvals/certification carried out by the UK based Beide Product Services and its status as a Notified Body.

Beide Product services promoted itself as a Notified Body with a strong presence in China, making it ideal for carrying out third party certification work on products manufactured there. It had a particularly strong following in the electronics market where it promoted its EMC certification work.

However it now appears that it is not listed as a Notified Body appointed by the UK government's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), or as an organisation designated to carry out conformity assessment according to the Machinery Directive by the European Commission.

Beide Product Services Ltd was struck off as a UK company and dissolved in April 2009. However a new company Beide (UK) Product Service Ltd was registered in December 2009 with the same two directors - Zehnkun and Defa Wang. The company’s UK web site has been out of action in recent days.

In the crane and access world the only machines that we are currently aware of as having been certified by Beide are the Youngman BoSS X range of push around scissor lifts.

Youngman told us that the problem has been brought to its attention by IPAF and that it is extremely disappointed at having been clearly misled over Beide’s suitability for this work. It said that the company came well recommended, presented well, had a UK address and was quite impressive in its approach.

However it also says that it did not rely on the third party certification along and can categorically confirm that all of its machines comply fully with all EU regulations, standards and directives and that prior to introducing the products it had carried out its calculations and approval process as well as certifying the manufacturing plant. As such it was and is more than happy self certifying the machines which is a perfectly acceptable solution for CE marking.

However given the potential for confusion and concern it has also decided to contract SGS(UK) to do an additional third party certification in order to provide double reassurance to its customers. Owners of Youngman’s scissor lifts need not worry and can be reassured that their machines are fully compliant and CE certified.

Vertikal Comment

The arrival of the CE mark and single product standards for the EU has been a fantastic success, opening up the single market and making it far more efficient for manufacturers and buyers to design, build and stock products.

However this affair shows up a possible weakness in the system that has come to the fore with the increased volume of products being shipped in from markets such as China. Most buyers now accept the CE sticker on a product as proof of compliance, and for those with a slightly more dubious nature, the CE certificate seals the deal.

While this is true 99.9 percent of the time, there is little stopping unscrupulous suppliers, particularly from outside the EU, from printing up a sticker and a certificate and applying them to their machines (NB: This was most definitely NOT the case with Beide –we understand that it was actually quite diligent and thorough in its approach to certifying the production facilities and equipment and had some blue chip references from the electronics industry in China).

There is no single body checking CE certification up front, nor is their likely to be one, the policing of the programme relays on buyers, competitors or safety inspectors flagging a suspicious certification or approval. In the real world few equipment buyers are likely to purchase expensive machinery from a company that they have never heard of, and those likely to cheat are hardly likely to build a decent product that would fool your average buyer – so in reality the risk is tiny.

The best insurance is of course to buy machines sold by well established or well represented manufacturers that you can trust. As in this case, the fact that the machines are designed, sold and supported by Youngman means that this discovery is not a drama for those who have purchased the machines.

Imagine though that you had purchased a machine with a Beide certification from XYZ Industries?