Written By: Ken Liu
Product Safety Consulting
Project Engineer
IEC 62841
Electric Motor-Operated Hand-Held Tools, Transportable Tools and Lawn, and Garden Machinery
The safety of electric, motor-operated, or magnetically driven tools will now comply with IEC 62841, also known as the Power Tools Standard. Previous Standards will be replaced including but not limited to IEC 60745, IEC 60745, and IEC 61029. In the US and Canada, UL 62841 and CAN/CSA 22.2 No. 62841 are harmonized to the European EN 62841 with local deviations. The battery and charging system requirements are major changes that require compliance with an effective date of April 30, 2021. After that, all new product designs (cord or cordless) and revised constructions of currently certified products will be required to be evaluated in accordance with the new UL 62841 Standard.
The transition period to meet compliance will vary depending on the category. If your product is certified to the previous Standard, it is our recommendation that you begin the transition process to review against the new Standard’s requirements now. Don’t wait until the last day! Our Team will review your product, identify the requirement gaps, and conduct testing if needed.
Product Safety Consulting has provided expert advice since 1988 and we have proficient working knowledge of global safety certification.
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Are you afraid of the NRTL process where 9-out-of-10 products fail the first time? If you are facing this hurdle, we can take away the pain. Our expertise in consulting and testing will get you into compliance… period!
How long will the process take? That depends on what stage you’ve reached, and the complexity of your product. If your design is simply a tweaking of a normal table lamp testing might be fast and easy. If you’ve invented a new and revolutionary heart pacemaker the process will probably take longer. In the latter case you might be using unusual materials or processes. There might be aspects in your design that have never been tested before. Beyond this, there’s your reaction time. If a glitch appears, and you solve it immediately obviously the process will move more quickly. These kinds of issues affect the timing for the testing of any product.
