CE vs China
Export Mark Explained – Avoid Costly Mistakes

The Conformité Européenne (CE) mark is a common sight on products in North America, and Europe. However the China Export mark and CE mark are easily confused, which is understandable because they look almost identical. This similarity is something which has been acknowledged by the EU parliament. In this blog differences between the CE vs China Export Mark are explained along with tips to avoid costly mistakes.

If you’ve taken a look at the safety and specification notes on many products you’ve no doubt seen a mark that looks like the one pictured above on many of them. They frequently appear alongside the common UL (Underwriters Laboratory), FCC (Federal Communications Commission), or CSA (Canadian Standards Association) marks that appear on many products in North America. Given the vast difference in the meaning of these symbols, engineers need to be able to tell them apart. This blog explains the meaning of both marks and provides a simple way to differentiate them.

The Conformité Européenne (CE) Mark

The CE Mark is required on certain products that are sold in the European Economic Area (EEA). There are a number of compliance categories which cover different products. For most products companies don’t need to seek external inspections to use the mark. For products that require the mark, companies only need to ensure their product meets the applicable standards through testing, provide a declaration, and then place the mark on their product. Certain categories such as medical devices, require testing by an accredited third party called a Notified Body.

In order for a medical device to receive a CE mark, the process is more intensive. Designers must submit samples and technical documents for external inspection by any of a number of Notified Bodies. These bodies review the product documentation, and depending on the requirements will review test reports or conduct their own testing to ensure a product complies with the regulations.

The CE mark on medical devices also includes the ID number of the Notified Body which conducted the certification. The image to the right shows an example of a CE mark on a medical device. 0543 is the Notified Body ID, which can be looked up here. Notified bodies are only authorized to certify specific product types, and have those abilities listed on their page.

The China Export Mark

The China Export Mark means that the product was manufactured in China. There is no registration, testing, or auditing required in order to use it. The mark can be used arbitrarily by Chinese manufacturers. Products bearing the China Export mark vary in quality from being acceptable to outright dangerous in their design, and require constant vigilance on the end user’s part to be used safely.

It is common practice for engineers to fully disassemble and inspect products of suspect quality, especially products which operate from AC mains power such as USB chargers, and battery chargers. Many engineers have personal anecdotes of using poorly performing products that appeared to have a CE mark, which turned out to be a China Export mark. One common shared experience is that of power supplies which become dangerously hot, sometimes to the point of melting their own casings.