The use of conformity certification for product ... - Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric 2007 - Conferences publications
o Due to the investment amount requested for testing
facilities (especially facilities for power testing), few Third
Party Laboratories are available over the world. Apart
from the few Third Party Laboratories, the competence is
mostly available in the Manufacturers and the Utilities. As
a matter of fact, it is the case in France for instance, as
far as HV switchgear is concerned.
o Utilities are very much involved in the technical
assessment of the products for two reasons. First, some
pieces of equipment may have a strategic impact on the
energy network. Second, purchasing equipment is a long
term investment over at least 30 years and sometimes
more.
o Manufacturers of MV and HV equipment need to keep
control on their development and assessment process
and not depend on the availability of external
Laboratories.
A CERTIFICATION SYSTEM TAILORED FOR
MV AND HV EQUIPMENT
It is possible to design a certification system that takes
advantages of the general concepts as described above
(certification and accreditation) and that is tuned up to suit
the specific features of MV and HV electrical equipment.
For instance, such a solution has been implemented in
France for years in the shape of a unique combination of
partners, concepts, principles, and rules of operation. The
legal frame of the French Certification Body that comes out
of this combination is a non profit association involving
Manufacturers, Utilities and Third Party stakeholders
(Laboratories and Standardization Body).
Let’s have a look at the main characteristics of the French
Certification Body :
Independence, impartiality and involvement
o Independence of the French Certification Body is
guaranteed by its constitution that grants a balanced
influence to each Party. In this case, independence
doesn’t mean this Body is operated on commercial
purpose only and doesn’t care about the possible
outcome of the certifications it performs. On the contrary,
Manufacturer and Utility members of the French
Certification Body, are very much concerned by the
results of the certification if they manufacture the object
under test, or if they intend to operate it for 30 years on
their network. This involvement is the guarantee that
each object under certification is thoroughly tested and
that results are deeply examined. Nevertheless the
equilibrium between the different Parties leads to a final
decision that is impartial in any case. Thus, involvement
and impartiality are the ground for independence.
o From a practical point of view, it should be noted that the
“Three Party System” exists at each level of this Body,
and not only on the top of the pyramid. From the
Technical Committee up to the Board of Directors, each
part of the French Certification Body has a balanced
management. Especially the Certification Committee is
composed of the three Parties : it is in charge of granting
or refusing certificates based on technical evaluation of
test results.
o There is a close relationship between this Body and the
Laboratories where the tests are performed. This
relationship is called homologation. The French
Certification Body is responsible for granting
homologation to a Laboratory for a limited period of time.
Periodical reviews are made to keep up homologation.
Accreditation according to ISO/IEC 17025 is one of the
requirements for homologation. Other requirements are
related to technical competence (for a given nature of
tests, on a given category of products), and rules of
operation that place the testing process under the control
of the French Certification Body.
o Homologated Laboratories may be Manufacturer’s
Laboratories or Utility’s ones. But in any case, tests are
supervised by the French Certification Body. Supervision
includes test program, test planning, witnessing,
identification of the objects under tests, and test reports.
Technical observers are selected and appointed by the
French Certification Body.
Technical competence
o Competence of the French Certification Body is made of
the competence of the members forming the Body. And
the core of the competence is located in their
Laboratories. This is the reason why technical experts
acting as observers and reviewers are chosen amongst
the teams of experienced test engineers of the
homologated Laboratories. This brings the guarantee
that competence of observers and reviewers is kept up to
date thanks to their everyday professional activity.
o Observers never come from the laboratory which is
performing the test. Observers always belong to a
separate Company.
Scope of activity in line with the needs of the
market
o The Product Certification System operated in France is
limited to the conformity of the type of product. It
corresponds to the column 1 in table 1 of ref [1]. It does
not include Surveillance. The reason for it is that MV and
HV are produced in small series (compared to domestic
mass products). Most Utilities operates themselves their
own schemes for Surveillance, taking into account their
return of experience.
o The scope of activity of the Body is not limited to IEC
standards. It includes also national standards and
specifications, not only French ones, but also German
ones or Italian ones for instance. It is a matter of fact that
large Utilities throughout Europe have their own
specification. So there is no reason to limit the scope of
activity to IEC.
o It is possible to issue a partial certificate covering only a
part of the requirements of a standard as far as the batch
of tests performed is consistent to demonstrate a given
performance (dielectric performance for instance). In