Technical regulation on safety of low-voltage equipment

The LVE Technical Regulations establishes requirements for low voltage equipment that was placed in circulation in the territory of the Russian Federation for the labeling of low-voltage equipment, for the accompanying documents, which include rules for safe operation and (or) disposal of low-voltage equipment, as well as establishes provisions related to conformity assessment of low-voltage equipment, and provisions relating to the prevention of acts of misleading buyers of low-voltage equipment.

 

Objects of LVE Technical Regulations

1) equipment operates at nominal voltage from 50 to 1500 VDC inclusive;

2) equipment operates at nominal voltage from 50 to 1000 VAC inclusive with frequency of alternating current to 1000 Hz inclusive;

3) equipment operates at a nominal value of DC voltage or at a nominal peak value of AC voltage to 50 volts, provided that in case of equipment failure the product of the voltage at the open-circuit and the value of the electric current which will flow through the circuit with the possible malfunction, exceeds 15 volt-amperes;

4) equipment related to chemical batteries.

Products not covered by LV Technical Regulation

1) low-voltage equipment intended for explosive atmospheres;

2) radiological equipment;

3) electrical components of lifts and elevators;

4) medical equipment;

5) low-voltage equipment designed and manufactured for ships and river boats, off-shore and river platforms (except equipment intended for drilling and technological purposes, space and aircrafts, railway and transport facilities)

6) communication facilities;

7) low-voltage equipment for defense needs for the federal state needs under the state defense  contract; low-voltage equipment used for protection of information constituting the state secret or other information of restricted nature as well as low-voltage equipment constituting the state secret.

Information for customers

1. Low-voltage equipment must be accompanied by adequate and reliable information to ensure its safe installation, operation and disposal.

2. Information on low-voltage equipment must be affixed to the equipment and (or) in the accompanying documents.

Labeling of low-voltage equipment

1. Low-voltage equipment, placed on the market on the territory of the Russian Federation, must be provided with legible, easy to read label placed in accessible location for inspection, indelible for a specified period of service of low-voltage equipment.  If labeling on low-voltage equipment is not possible, it must be affixed to its packing.

2. Marking of low-voltage equipment shall contain the following information in Russian relating to low-voltage equipment as follows :

1) name, type, model, modification, trade name (if available);

2) name, trademark or trademark of a manufacturer or a supplier (if any) ;

3) country of origin;

4)  market access sign;

5) nominal rated voltage or voltage range;

6) symbol type of electric current or nominal frequency of AC;

7) degree of protection against ingress of solid particles and moisture, provided by a protective shell, except low-voltage equipment having no protection from moisture ;

8) symbols of security and disposal methods for chemical power sources;

9) class of energy efficiency for the specified types of low-voltage equipment

3. Labeling of low-voltage equipment should contain the following information on classes of protection against electric shock:

1) class I - equipment with basic insulation and elements for joining the open conductive parts to the protective conductor of electrical installation;

2) class II - equipment with double or reinforced insulation and having no elements to join the open conductive parts to the protective conductor of electrical installation.

Accompanying documents

1. The accompanying documents must contain the following information as regards low-voltage equipment:

1) purpose of low-voltage equipment or scope of its application;

2) information about the rules and conditions for safe storage, transportation, operation, maintenance, repair, recovery, disposal ;

3) basic consumer properties or characteristics;

4) information on the Certificate of Conformity (CoC) or  the Declaration of Conformity (DoC) of low- voltage equipment in respect to the requirements of this Technical Regulation

5) trade name and location (address) of a manufacturer and (or) a seller;

6) information on the actions to be undertaken in case of malfunction of low-voltage equipment;

7) information on special security arrangements for commissioning, transportation, storage of low-voltage equipment (in case of relevant requirements for specific types of low-voltage equipment);

8) date of manufacture of low-voltage equipment;

2. Information provided for in the accompanying documents must be reliable.

Conformity assessment of low-voltage equipment in respect to the requirements of the LVE Technical Regulations

Forms of conformity assessment of low-voltage equipment

  1. Conformity assessment of low-voltage equipment shall be conducted in the forms of mandatory conformity assurance of low-voltage equipment and the state control (supervision).

Mandatory conformity assurance of low-voltage equipment

1. Mandatory conformity assurance of low-voltage equipment in respect to the requirements of the LVE Technical Regulations is to be conducted in the form of :

1) adoption of the Declaration of Conformity  (DoC);

2) mandatory certification.

2. The procedure of mandatory conformity assurance is to be established by the Government of Russian Federation.

3. The declaration of conformity shall be in accordance with the present Federal Law and other legislative acts of the Russian Federation on technical regulation, taking into account the risk groups and national standards and (or) Codes of rules to be applied on a voluntary basis to meet the requirements of this Federal Law.

Declaration of Conformity

1. The declaration of conformity of low-voltage equipment produced in series is to be performed under one of the following schemes:

1) scheme 1d – adoption of the Declaration of Conformity on the basis of own proofs;

2) scheme 2d – adoption of the Declaration on the basis of own proofs, prepared with participation of the accredited testing laboratory (center) under a contract;

3) scheme 3d – adoption of the Declaration of Conformity on the basis of own proofs, prepared with participation of the accredited testing laboratory (center) under a contract, a certificate of quality system issued in respect of quality system, relating to control and testing of low-voltage equipment in production;

4) scheme 4d – adoption of the Declaration of Conformity on the basis of own proofs, prepared with participation of the accredited testing laboratory (center) under a contract, a certificate of quality system.

Validity of the Declaration of Conformity may not exceed from the date of registration of the Declaration in accordance with Russian legislation on Technical Regulations: for scheme 1d – 1 year, for scheme 3d – 3 years, for scheme 4d – 5 years.

Mandatory certification of low-voltage equipment

1. Mandatory certification of low-voltage equipment is to be performed under one of the following schemes:

1) scheme 1c - certification on the basis of research results (tests) and measurements of low voltage equipment;

2) scheme 2c - certification on the basis of research results (tests) and measurements of low voltage equipment, certificate of quality system related to control and testing of low-voltage equipment in production, issued in accordance with national standards;

3) scheme 3c - certification on the basis of research results (tests) and measurements of low voltage equipment, certificate of quality system, issued in accordance with national standards.

Validity of the Certificate of Conformity is five years.

Application of market access sign

1. Labeling of products for which safety requirements are established by this Federal Law, the mark of market circulation is carried out by a manufacturer, a seller or a person who performs the functions of a foreign manufacturer, if its compliance with the requirements of technical regulations is confirmed in the order established by RF legislation on technical regulations.

2. The  market access sign is applied on low-voltage equipment and (or) its packing and on the introduction-pages of the accompanying documents. The mark of market access shall be visible and legible for a life time of low-voltage equipment.

3. Low-voltage equipment, which fails to comply with the requirements of this Federal law, should not be marked with the mark of market access.

4. Low-voltage equipment with no market access sign can’t be released into circulation on the territory of the Russian Federation.

 

by Dmitry Ivanov