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PRODUCT SAFETY

The regulations for Korea Safety Mark are based on the Korean Safety Law. This law changed on July 1st, 2000. There are our major changes as per revised Korea Safety Law:

1. The Korean Safety Law divides electrical products into two categories: Products, which have to get the mandatory EK-mark and products, which can get the voluntary K-mark.
2. An initial factory inspection and an annual factory inspection, also for factories outside of Korea is mandatory.
3. The Korean electrical safety standards have been harmonized based on the IEC-standards.
4. Only a factory can be license holder.

Safety standards for Korean EK mark approval are basically equivalent to IEC standards except for some national differences. Major national differences are power supply (220V, 60Hz) and the type of plug. Only plug type of C1b, C2b, C3b, C4 and C6 classified in IEC 60083 are acceptable and all have pin diameter 4.8mm.

Examples of Korean safety standards are as follows; K60065(IEC 60065), K60950(IEC 60950), K 60335-1(IEC 60335-1), K 60127(IEC 60127), K61058(IEC 61058), etc.

Korea as a member body of IECEE CB scheme accepts CB certificate with CB report and in some cases additional testing can be required to cover national differences. It is very helpful to prepare CB certificate to shorten the lead-time.

Critical components which are on the primary circuit like plug, power cord, connector, switch, fuse, X capacitor, etc and insulation materials are controlled under EK approval system. This means list of critical components is attached to EK certificate and whenever there is any change of listed components it has to be additionally approved. Critical components tested according to IEC/EN standards and approved by internationally recognized certification bodies are accepted without any further testing.

The following documents are required for EK-Mark Certification:

1. CB Test Report and CB certificate together with national Korean deviations will be accepted.
2. Additional Documentation
• Application form
• Questionnaire
• Korean rating label
• Technical specification of the equipment in English
• Construction drawing / block diagram / circuit diagram / PCB layout / parts’ list
• Photos of the product
• User’s manual in Korean

The initial factory inspection is carried out. The interval between the following annual factory inspections is determined on the basis of on the Korean Safety Law for the Korean Safety Mark, and will generally be once a year.

EMC CERTIFICATION

In accordance with the regulations of the South Korean Ministry of Information and Communication, the following products are covered by the requirements for EMC certification:

• High Frequency equipment for industrial, scientific and medical use
• Automobiles and equipment powered by spark ignition engines
• Radio receiver equipment
• Domestic electrical appliances and electrical power tools
• Fluorescent lighting equipment
• High voltage equipment and accessories
• Information technology equipment
• Any other equipment specified by the Information Communications Division Manager

Products must comply with the appropriate South Korean standards, which are based on, but not necessarily identical to, the appropriate CISPR standard.
The following material must be submitted to an accredited South Korean test laboratory or a non-Korean laboratory which has been accredited by the Korean authorities:

• product sample
• User Manual
• Details of the construction, specifications, major manufacturing methods and circuitry, illustrated by photographs.

Once approval is achieved all imported products, which are subject to the regulations, must bear an approval label, giving the registration number of the approval.