Quality Seals: Test Marks and Certificates
Author: Michael Vogel
Test marks guarantee the protection of health and safety. The CE mark, widespread in Europe, does not always go hand in hand with independent testing by third parties, however, and is often cause for misunderstandings.
You can find them on toys, machines, toothbrushes, and kitchen appliances: Certificates and test marks. They confirm that the labeled product meets certain safety and quality criteria and warrants safe use. In Europe, “CE” (Conformité Européenne, European Conformity) is probably one of the most familiar symbols, as this seal is mandatory for anyone looking to place a product on the European domestic market. In Germany in particular, the GS mark for “tested safety” (geprüfte Sicherheit) is another prominent symbol. It indicates sufficient health and safety standards for the use of the labeled product. It is the only test mark in Europe whose allocation is regulated by law. It is, in contrast to the CE mark, voluntary in its application.
“Genuine test marks are always monitored by an independent third party,” Oliver Brumm, Managing Director of DEKRA Testing & Certification GmbH, explains. “That could be the GS mark, for example, or the ENEC mark, which is mainly used for light products. Other options include in-house test marks, such as those offered by various organizations, including DEKRA.”
European test marks - the CE symbol
Misunderstandings often arise among the public, particularly with regard to CE marking. For many products, it is sufficient for the manufacturer or retailer (legally: the distributor) to self-assess that the product in question complies with the basic safety requirements of all relevant European directives. The CE marking is therefore always accompanied by a declaration of conformity from the manufacturer and expresses this responsibility for the product by displaying the pictogram. “It is rather an administrative mark than a test mark,” clarifies Brumm. “However, there are product groups for which third-party testing is mandatory in order to obtain a CE marking.” Some examples include medical devices and certain personal protective equipment such as FFP2 masks or machines with a high level of risk, such as circular saws. Pressure cookers also require independent testing under the directive.
“However, it is generally not clear to non-experts whether the CE mark for a particular product is based solely on the declaration of conformity of the distributor or whether an external test was actually carried out,” Brumm points out. There is no doubt that the introduction of the CE mark in the European single market was an important step forward at the time, as there were no uniform regulations on testing and requirements prior to this.
Test mark to protect against cyber risks
The CE mark will also stand for Cyber Security in future, according to a decision by the Council of the European Union from October 2024. This will affect all internet-enabled hardware products - such as app-controlled coffee machines, smartwatches and baby monitors. The allocated transition period will be three years. At the latest by then, the CE mark will also indicate that networked products guarantee adequate protection against cyber risks. “This step makes sense,” says Brumm. “It is normal that new technical developments also come with new risks. As CE stands for a sufficient minimum level of safety, the public can expect that a product they buy is also cyber-safe.”
How test marks are issued
As a certifying body, DEKRA covers a whole spectrum of test marks and certifications. The spectrum ranges from CE marking tests to test marks for various global regions for electrical safety and electromagnetic compatibility through to battery certifications. The process for granting a certificate is always similar.
The first step is a company that “defines a safety objective. As a notified body, DEKRA then ensures that this protection goal is achieved transparently on the basis of test criteria, taking into account standards and legal provisions,” Brumm adds. DEKRA uses a structured process to record the current situation and then proposes the necessary tests or specifies the legally required tests. Depending on the test mark, it may also be necessary to carry out an inspection during production for the duration of the test mark. “The aim here is to detect any drift in production at an early stage,” explains Brumm. After all, contradictions to the specifications that earned the test mark often creep in over time due to changes in the materials used, suppliers or manufacturing processes. Regular inspection of production by a third party counteracts this. What's more, not all test marks necessarily entail that a company also uses them visibly on its products. “This can be the case for brand manufacturers who have built up sufficient trust in their products and see the award of the test mark more as an additional quality assurance,” says Brumm, giving just one example. Conversely, however, it is also the case that manufacturers of no-name products in particular use such test marks as 'reassurance': “This way, they signal to both the supervisory authorities and consumers that their product meets the requirements resulting from European and national regulations and directives, or possibly - as in the case of the GS mark - even exceeds them in certain areas.”
DEKRA issues its own test mark. It attests that companies, products or people demonstrably meet defined standards, for example in terms of safety, quality or sustainability. The DEKRA seal is an independent certification. It indicates whether a particular standard has been fully or partially tested. Sometimes keywords are used to describe the test criteria. The detailed descriptions and underlying standards of the keywords can be found via the DEKRA seal search:
www.dekra.com/en/dekra-seal/
. Here you can also check whether a DEKRA seal is genuine.