ETL Lab Testing Guide: An Overview

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ETL Lab Testing

ETL certification and marking help businesses ensure that their electrical and electronic products comply with certain standards. Part of this process involves lab testing, which is what this article is about.

Importers and manufacturers can send their products to be ETL-tested in Intertek’s Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories (NRTL) – all of which have been approved by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the US.

In this guide, we cover ETL testing processes, costs, and more.

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Packaging Materials Regulations in the United States: An Overview

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Are you importing or manufacturing packaging materials in the United States? If so, you need to be aware of heavy metals restrictions, safety standards, labeling rules, and other compliance requirements.

In this guide, we take a look at Fair Packaging Labeling Act (FPLA), Fair Packaging Labeling Act (FPLA), the Poison Prevention Packaging Act (PPPA), and the Model Toxics in Packaging Legislation.

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Packaging Materials Regulations in the European Union: An Overview

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Product packaging materials in the EU must comply with a range of product regulations. This includes chemical and heavy metals restrictions, recycling requirements, labelling, and lab testing.

In this guide, we take a look at Directive 94/62/EC on Packaging and Packaging Waste, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), REACH, Food Packaging Regulations, and more.

Packaging labelling

Packaging labelling requirements mainly depend on the product, rather than the packaging material. Various packaging labels, including CE marking and WEEE marking, are covered in this guide.

Food packaging

Additional regulations apply to food and beverage packaging.

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Jewelry Regulations in the United States: A Complete Guide

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Planning to import or manufacture jewelry in the United States? In this guide, we cover what Amazon sellers, importers, and manufacturers should know about heavy metals and chemicals regulations, labeling requirements, and more.

More specifically, the guide covers relevant ASTM standards, California Proposition 65, CPSIA, Lacey Act, and other jewelry compliance requirements in the US.
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Jewellery Regulations in the European Union: A Complete Guide

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Are you planning to import or manufacture jewellery in the European Union? In this guide, we cover what jewellery importers and manufacturers must know about the REACH regulation, labelling requirements, standards, packaging regulations, jewellery lab testing and more.
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EU Declaration of Compliance (DoC) for Food Contact Materials Guide

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Issuing a Declaration of Compliance (DoC) is mandatory when importing and manufacturing certain food contact materials in the European Union. Notice that this also includes consumer products such as drinking bottles, cutlery, and individual components.

In this guide, we explain how you can determine if your specific food contact material or product requires a Declaration of Compliance, and what you must know before creating one.

Covered Regulations

  • Plastic Materials Regulation ((EU) 10/2011)
  • Use of Bisphenol A in Varnishes and Coatings Regulation ((EU) 2018/213)
  • Active and Intelligent Materials Regulation ((EC) No 450/2009)
  • Recycled Plastic FCM Regulation ((EC) No 282/2008)
  • Ceramics Directive (84/500/EEC)
  • Regenerated Cellulose Film Directive (2007/42/EC)
  • Epoxy Derivatives Restriction Regulation ((EC) 1895/2005)
  • FCM from China or Hong Kong Regulation ((EU) No 284/2011)

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List of Products Covered by the Federal Hazardous Substances Act

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List of Products Covered by FHSA

The Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA) restricts hazardous substances and products that may contain hazardous substances. In this guide, we list various categories of products that fall under the scope of the FHSA, such as art materials, adhesives, and bicycles.

Product List Creation Methodology

This list is based on the Regulations, Mandatory Standards and Bans list published on the official CPSC website. We only list products covered by the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA).

General Certificate of Conformity (GCC)

Importers or manufacturers of non-children’s products covered by the FHSA for which consumer product safety rules apply have to issue a General Certificate of Conformity (GCC). The GCC is a self-issue document certifying that a product complies with applicable safety standards, and it must include data such as:

  • Product name and description
  • List of applicable CPSC safety rules and standards
  • Company information
  • Name of the person holding the test report
  • Date and place of production
  • Date and place of product testing
  • Third-party testing company information

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Packaging Materials Regulations in the United Kingdom: A Summary

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Packaging Materials Regulations in the United Kingdom

Product packaging materials are subject to various regulations and standards in the United Kingdom, applicable both to packaging materials as a category – and product packaging for consumer products. As such, packaging materials regulations are relevant to importers, manufacturers, distributors, and other businesses trading physical products.

In this guide, we cover The Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations, UK REACH, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), and other compliance requirements for packaging materials..

Note that this article does not cover packaging material regulations in Northern Ireland.

What is a packaging material?

A packaging material refers to most materials used to hold, protect, handle, deliver, and in the presentation of goods, and includes packaging for raw materials right through to finished goods to be sold or being sold.

Examples of packaging material include:

  • Paperboard boxes
  • Aluminum
  • Foam
  • Flexible plastic packaging
  • Cardboard/Fiberboard

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ProductIP Compliance Services Guide: An Overview

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ProductIP Compliance Services Guide

ProductIP is a company that offers an online system that helps importers and manufacturers to create, manage and share their technical compliance files – mainly for the EU market (even if some services might also be relevant for the UK market).

The company, which is known for being a pioneer in product compliance solutions, also provides additional compliance services – often complementary to its platform. Further, it offers training workshops to help importers and manufacturers better understand how they can demonstrate product compliance most effectively.

This guide provides an overview of ProductIP’s digital solutions, services, and workshops.
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Prefab Home Regulations & Safety Standards in the United States

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Prefab Home Regulations in the United States

Thinking of importing or manufacturing prefabricated homes for the US market? Although a unifying building code standard for prefabricated homes does not exist yet, there are regulations and safety standards that should be observed.

Construction products that are commonly referred to as “prefabricated” include:

  • Kit homes
  • Modular homes
  • Stick-built homes
  • Prefabricated panels
  • Manufactured homes

However, from a legal point of view, there are two types of prefabricated homes:

  • Those that follow federal laws (legally known as “manufactured homes”)
  • Those that follow local state laws and codes (legally known as “modular homes”).

In this article, we present various legislation, codes, and safety standards that are relevant to the prefabricated housing market in the United States.

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