As a manufacturer of electrical equipment, ABB views compliance as a part of our core business principles. Product safety standards are the cornerstone of our industry, so products are produced according to the local requirements of each market. As ABB is a global business, this means many products are required to comply with multiple standards to suit the various markets where they are sold.
In certain areas of the industry, products were identified to require local approvals where electrical safety authorities verified the base standard of a product. The Regulatory Compliance Mark is a form of identification used on these identified products.
Compliance is an important element to ensuring public safety and providing contractors with an assurance that they are receiving the correct goods for the installation. When an installation is signed off by the responsible electrical contractor, the compliance of the design, the installation work practices and the equipment selection also forms part of this sign off.
Compliance with standards through a manufacturer’s declaration, product marking of relevant standards and/or the Regulatory Compliance Mark, helps installing contractors with the selection and verification of products that are fit and suitable for their purpose.
Genuine, fake or copy?
Global Manufacturers with identifiable brands and strong reputations are often the target for products that are a misrepresentation of the real item.
A fake product is one that has been copied to the point where it is intentional that a purchaser might think they are getting a “real” product. The fake product manufacturer makes every effort to ensure that, from the outside, the product appears identical to the real branded item. In these cases the internal components are often of an inferior design and performance standards are nowhere near that of the original item. Such fake items can be hard to identify due to the measures taken to fool a purchaser. Often these items are available through on-line suppliers and warranty conditions and after sales service can be questionable or non-existent.
The major electrical product manufacturers devote considerable energy and resources to tracing such blatant copying of intellectual property, product design and valuable corporate branding. Fortunately many countries previously identified as manufacturing centres of these fake products now have Government supported agencies tracking shipments of fake products and closing down these untrustworthy manufacturers.
A copy product can be where a manufacturer takes a reputable product and tries to produce a device very similar. These products may or may not provide the same performance as the original, and must have their own test reports and Certificates of Conformance according to the type of product. Sometimes the copy product can be of a good quality manufacture however often it is inferior in terms of performance and reliability. There have been cases where an earlier model or version of a well-known brand is reproduced with limited changes. The body of the device can be identical and markings and part numbers can have minor changes from the original, making them easily mistaken in an on-line shop front.
In many cases both the fake and the copy products may not have the appropriate compliance documentation to protect the installing contractor from making a decision that could have a dramatic consequence. If an inferior device is installed and a serious event occurs where the device does not provide the correct protection, the installing contractor may be faced with a product liability issue. If the item was purchased from an on-line store, how assured is the purchaser that he has necessary compliance support, warranty, technical backup and product liability protection.
ABB produces a number of products that can be targeted by producers of fake and copy products due to the strong brand recognition and well known standards of quality and design. To protect the brand and the product, ABB monitors the market to try to intercept illegal products that breach copyright and intellectual property restrictions.
At the product level ABB is introducing technology such as RFid labels to not only provide complete traceability of the life cycle of the device, but also ensure fake or copied product can be recognised. This technology provides a unique serial number and production identification information on a special RFid data label on each genuine product. These measures ensure a purchaser is receiving the genuine article that they are expecting so that compliance of safety, product performance and product liability is assured.
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