Press release by Basista Leiterplatten GmbH and the UL Underwriters Laboratories

Constantly new regulations and demands by law. That is confusing! Who does not want to concentrate on his project than grapple with laws? But who is able to leave the global market and therefore the global players out of consideration while developing a new product? Companies are associated worldwide nowadays. This way new sales markets are discovered which one has to consider while scheduling the final product. A short sighted schedule is equivalent with smaller sales potential. That is why most producers will not escape labelling their products with UL. A close look and exercising caution is demanded. The small difference may be small but very significant respectively crucial for acceptance. PCB and the different types of UL-labels. Every developer needs to inform himself very detailed: - if the PCB is produced with UL-listed basis material or - if the complete PCB is produced according to UL-guidelines.

The difference between those options can be explained as follows:

1. The PCB is produced with UL-certified basis materials. That means: the material used has the UL-label but not the finished PCB:

It is not a precise statement that PCBs produced with UL-listed materials can be distributed without any problems in the USA and Canada. The UL-listed material must be allowed by UL under the category: QMTS2.

Is the PCB produced with UL-listed material (under QMTS2) this will ensure a certain amount of reliability – that is no safeguard whatsoever that the final product will get an UL-certificate. Any PCB made of UL-listed material which is presented to get an UL-allowance will not guarantee that the complet end-product gets an UL-certificate. The UL-certificate will not be awarded. In this case a new design for the end-product on the basis of a PCB with UL-producer-label has to be presented.

2. The complete PCB is UL-certified.

The PCB production follows an UL-certified process according to ZPMV2. Therefore the PCB can be implanted into any UL-tested end-product. Producing the PCB according to an UL-certified production process will ensure the acknowledgement and will entitle the PCBs to be UL-labeled in the first place. Those PCBs can without any problems be used in UL-allowed electrical appliances. It just has to be made sure that the corresponding parameters like e.g. rating of temperature are sufficient for the end-product. So, it is necessary that single components are produced according to the UL-certified process in order to get an allowance for the entire end-product.

Only when the PCB which is used in the end-product was produced according to the UL-certified production process (ZPMV2) it will get the UL-test seal. All different parts of production according to the UL-certified process will be tested on a regular basis by experts to ensure that quality management standards are observed.

ZPMV2 examines the influence the process is having on combustibility and copper adhesion of the PCB. Those two elements are important components to ensure the end-product's security and are therefore evaluated respectively rated to that effect.

So why UL-label?

The UL stands for Underwriters Laboratories. Products being checked by this organisation according to valid U.S. product safety demands will obtain the UL-label. Products with this label enjoy more acceptance with consumers, regulatory authorities and the insurance business.

More than 90 % of the global market for electrical goods falls upon USA/Canada/Mexico, Asia/Pacific as well as Europe. At the same time the USA are the largest compliant national market in the world.

International comparison has shown that products meeting American standards have a higher acceptance. The observance of the American requirements is ensured by the UL-label on the products. The UL sign is used therefore in communication and advertisement. This way possible exportation opportunities to America and Canada of UL-certified products will be increased.

This way an increased acceptance for producst referring to the American market is accomplished. If the UL-label is necessary for the finished product the PCBs have to be obtained under the observance of these differentiations.

Our guidance is carried out from the very beginning, right from the initial stage, declares Peter Basista, managing director the Basista-Leiterplatten GmbH. "Nowadays no company can afford to do without the competitive edge. It becomes more and more important to introduce new products very fast to the international market. A misunderstanding at the thought of the subject UL-label can delay the launch of new products, Mr. Basista reports. The PCB manufacturer from Bottrop is not called PCB Coach by his clients for nothing. I regret when a company has additional costs and time delays just because of a misunderstanding or incorrect information. Therefore it is important to inform about this topic very detailed - in collaboration with Underwriters Laboratories. With our know-how we are able to accomplish that the success of our customers is also our success.

Peter Basista, Geschäftsführer der Basista-Leiterplatten GmbH: “Wir finden es wichtig, zusammen mit Underwriters Laboratories ausgiebig zu informieren. Mit unserem Knowhow erreichen wir, dass der Erfolg unserer Kunden auch unser Erfolg ist.“

Weitere Informationen bei: www.basista.de oder per Email an info@basista.de Basista-Leiterplatten GmbH, - the pcb company -, Kardinal-Hengsbach-Str. 2-4, 46236 Bottrop, kostenlose Hotline unter 0800 BASISTA 0800 22 74 782