CoTang said:
I was carious in regards to developing, producing and selling an electronic device that if the circuit has to be approved by someone or some company.
i.e. Say for example that I designed and tested a new type of alarm system. Do I have to get that designed checked and approved by a professional engineer? Lately i've been coming across people saying that anything you design that you want to market have to be looked at and approved by someone else that has some sort of ticket like PEGUS (sp?) or R.E.T.. I know for CSA or ULA or ATEX is required for certain countries but this is for a domestic product and don't require such regulations.
Thanks.
P.S. I live in Canada if that helps.
As far as I know, alot will depend on the nature of your product. As pointed out, if it is an RF device, it has to comply with the appropriate FCC rules (there is similar requirements in Canada) What qualifies as RF product? You might be suprised! You ought to look it up for Canada. But here in the US there are some parts of the FCC code that pretty much make a simple microcontroller with a clock fall under a regulated category.
If you will sell to Europe, think CE (and lead free too!)
In all cases, if it has a potential safety Hazard like:
1) high voltage (here in US & other contries low voltage directive applies. Ie.e 60VDC, 40RMS or lower is "low voltage") Low voltages are not an issue. Certainly mains voltages are a safety issue. If it plugs into the wall, I guarantee you will need some kind of safety approvals. This is one good reason to purchase things like power supplies that are already approved.
2) Does it/ can it get hot? is there a potential for fire / burning?
3) Does it plug into a phone line? In the US that's regulated by FCC as well. You can get into legal trouble by hanging non approved circuits on the phone lines.
It will need UL (cUL for Canada). UL (cUL & CSA) have standards that regulate all kinds of things for in home use. You ought to look at them to see what applies to your design. Even things like how it will screw into the wall or ceiling (or door) are srutinized. After all, if it is an insecure design, it may fall and hit someone or worse, it fails to perform the critical function of detecting.
Yes, unless you have a certified testing department in your company, you will need to hire a third party testing agency for approvals. With all the documentation required and testing, I would not expect to pay less than $5000 USD for a single product certification (cUL, CSA) There are lower cost field approvals but I dont think it applies to you.
Here is another thing to think about, Perhaps you will find that you "LEGALLY" are not required to certify the product. You will be making your liability situation alot worse than if you had a certified product.
Lets say, the alarm system is for burgler detection. Lets say your unnaproved design fails for some reason that is not operator misuse. Lets say someone is murdered. While your product is not ultimately responsible for the mishap, don't think that lawyers arent going to drag you and your unapproved product into court to try and spread the blame & cash in. You really just avoid this kind of scenario altogether and do as much as you can to prove that your product is safe, reliable and fit for home / business use.