[Must-see! ] What is necessary for basic knowledge of PSE (Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act) and displaying the PSE mark? Electrical appliances such as mobile batteries and chargers are subject to PSE (Electric Safety Law)

Hello. It is the moat of the caretaker.

In the previous article,

For business operators, PSE, PSC, measurement method, radio law law, etc. 7 teachings necessary for acquiring certification mark!

We have comprehensively provided an overview of certifications such as the PSE (Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act), PSC (Consumer Product Safety Act), and the Radio Act.

As for our way of thinking, as I wrote in the previous article, the most important thing for business operators is to pass certification with as little time and cost as possible and concentrate on your own business. I don't think you have the time to absorb legal knowledge, but there are still some points that you should know at the very least. This time, I will tell you the points you need to know about PSE in a compact way.

Almost all home appliances distributed in Japan are marked with the PSE mark. In other words, the PSE Act (Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act) applies to almost all home appliances. More recently, there has been the enactment of PSE legislation for mobile batteries. Most of the Japan consumers do not know about PSE, but there are various legal barriers for the business operators who handle it, and a minimum of knowledge is required.

What is the Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act (PSE)?

The Electrical Appliance and Material Control Law enacted in 1961 was amended to the current law in 1991, and it is a law under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry that became the current law. At the time of the enactment, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry was in charge. Even after 1999, it has been revised one after another, such as the expansion of the target product.

To summarize the background of the enactment of the PSE Law from the preface of the law,

"In the midst of the period of high economic growth, the Electrical Appliance and Material Control Law was enacted against the backdrop of the rapid spread of home appliances and the frequent occurrence of fire accidents due to inferior electrical appliances at that time."

If you think about it from such a simple historical background, the significance of PSE becomes easy to understand.

To give you a general overview of the target products, electrical appliances and materials designated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) include home appliances that use power outlets, mobile batteries, some LED lamps, LED electric light fixtures, and lighting fixtures. In particular, those that use a power outlet need to display the PSE mark at almost 100%.

In addition,

If you sell or display something that does not display the PSE mark for sale or for the purpose of sale, there are various penalties such as imprisonment for up to one year, a fine of up to 1 million yen, or a combination of these. Depending on the conditions, a fine of up to 100 million yen

And so on.

In addition to penalties, selling illegal goods will lead to a loss of social credibility, and the loss will also be large.

By the way, PSE is an abbreviation for Product Safety Electrical Appliance and Materials.

"Electrical appliances and materials designated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry" already covers applicable electrical appliances within the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and when selling electrical appliances that fall under the same category, product inspection by inspection organizations and application to the ministry are required.

To put it this way, there are some people who expect that the product they want to handle will be "electrical appliances that do not apply", but basically it is at the 99% level.

Some commercial (store) beauty containers, medical equipment, large commercial machinery, etc. may not fall under this category, but the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has also compiled a fairly detailed list.

PSE is classified into two categories other than specific electrical appliances and specific electrical appliances.

So what is pse coverage?
Please see the figure quoted from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry page.

* Quote: From the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's "Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act ̳ Outline of the Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act"

There are 116 items of specified electrical appliances and materials (commonly known as rhombic PSE) and 341 items of non-specified electrical appliances and materials (commonly known as round PSE). To put it simply, specific electrical appliances and materials have a more complex structure, higher degree of danger, wiring equipment, and other specified electrical appliances and materials other than other items. However, this does not mean that it is easy to conduct tests other than specific electrical appliances. I think it is correct to say that it is just a comparison between the two.

Points where it is difficult to inspect specific electrical appliances

Regarding the differences between specific electrical appliances and materials other than specific electrical appliances and materials, of course individual products are different, but the biggest difference between the two companies is that specific electrical appliances and materials have production plant inspections by inspection institutions.

In addition, depending on the classification of electrical appliances and materials, there are things that each inspection organization can and cannot do, so it is also the job of the business operator to investigate such things, and it is quite troublesome.

In particular, the most important point is that if the production plant is overseas such as China, it is necessary to arrange the dispatch of inspectors, and if there is a specialized department at a major company, it may be possible to respond without problems, but if it is a mid-tier or small and medium-sized enterprise, it is difficult on its own. In addition, prior checks are absolutely necessary to inspect whether overseas factories have Japan PSE production facilities.

As I will tell you in detail on the next page, we can conduct factory inspections using inspection agencies in China, and it is also possible to dispatch PSE experts in China to our factories for preliminary checks. Please contact us if you have any orders.

How to distinguish PSE-eligible products from non-eligible products, and USB products are not PSE eligible?

Most of the home appliances in the world are subject to PSE. If you observe the electrical appliances in your home, you will always see the PSE mark. Rather, what is not is illegal.

By the way, laptops, cordless vacuum cleaners, and other items that use an AC adapter to supply power require a PSE indication on the AC adapter.

Basically, products sold at real stores such as mass electronics retailers are genuine products with PSE indications without any problem. In such a place, only authorized manufacturers will handle it, and the store side will also be a credit problem, so we are very strict in the selection of suppliers.

On the other hand, USB charging is a product that is not subject to PSE. For example, portable fans that are popular in summer are USB charging type, so they are not subject to PSE.

In recent years, in order to take measures against PSE, many USB charging products have been on the market, mainly by Chinese operators, and it is possible to use it as long as it is a small capacity power. In addition, products that are connected to the cigar socket of the car and used are not subject to PSE. If you pay the PSE certification fee, it may be one thing to handle USB charging products. In addition, products that use dry batteries (which do not use lithium-ion batteries) are also not subject to PSE.

【Important】PSE legislation of mobile batteries and the concept of target products

Mobile batteries equipped with lithium-ion batteries became PSE legislation in February 2019, and handling has become very strict.
The background to the legislation is that there are many accidents involving the ignition of lithium-ion batteries.

For an overview, please see this page of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

In addition to the mobile battery that is often seen in the street, as a little specialized content, the stand of wireless earphones is also a target point. Although this product is a small product, it may require two certifications: radio wave law certification for wireless communication and PSE certification for stands.

However, please note that mobile batteries (lithium-ion battery specifications) intended to supply power to others are subject to PSE, so for example, rechargeable cordless cleaners using AC adapters are not subject to PSE. In that case, only the AC adapter is eligible for PSE.

Beware of malicious illegal items! Illegal examples such as hiding the PSE mark

This is actually confirmed with my own eyes, so I dare to say it by real name, there are so many electrical appliances sold by Chinese companies at Internet malls such as Amazon that do not have PSE indications or pse indications are incorrect. In other words, it can be inferred that it is an illegal product that has not been properly inspected by PSE. Of course, there are cases where Japanese companies also handle illegal goods.

In any case, you should be careful about electrical appliances that are too cheap. As a problem of PSE illegal products, (1) the safety of products that use electricity has not been officially proven, (2) uncertainty of responsibility in the event of an accident with the product, especially in the case of Chinese operators.

I will also write about pse procedures in the next article.

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