Australian RCM Certification
Certification Introduction
RCM certification is a logo introduced by Australia and New Zealand to achieve a unified logo for electrical products. The logo is a trademark owned by the regulatory agencies of Australia and New Zealand, indicating that the product complies with both safety regulations and EMC requirements and is mandatory.

RCM certification controls electrical products and is mainly divided into non-regulated and regulated products, because not all products marked with the RCM mark need to be registered. Non-regulated products do not need to be registered. Currently, only Level 3 electrical products are required to be registered, including 56 categories with higher risk factors such as power adapters and vacuum cleaners.

In general, the RCM logo should be marked on the product label. The agent number originally required does not need to be marked in the new RCM.
After the requirement was issued on March 1, 2013, there was a three-year transition period, and it was enforced on March 1, 2016, so manufacturers must strictly follow the requirements to perform the relevant tests of this standard. Due to the new RCM requirements, unlike before, in addition to the high risk of unqualified product quality that importers will bear, plus the importers need to pay registration fees and annual registration fees, there will be very few companies that can provide this service.

Australian RCM

Basic information of RCM certification

Nature of certification: compulsory certification

Is factory inspection required: No

Is local representative required: Yes

Certificate validity period: 2 years, 3 years, 5 years

Application cycle: One week after obtaining the safety certification certificate and C-Tick/EMC report

Applicable areas
Australia, New Zealand, Nauru, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Federated States of Micronesia, Tuvalu, Tonga, Marshall Islands, Vanua, Papua New Guinea, Samoa.
RCM certification content
RCM= Safety + EMC + Importer Declaration

1. Safety (Product Safety Certification)
Product safety certification includes two parts: electrical products are divided into regulated electrical products (Prescribed Product) and non-regulated products (Non-prescribed product).

1). Regulated electrical products are classified according to AS/NZS4417.2, including electric heating equipment, refrigeration equipment, electric tools, parts, etc. Among them, the three issuing units Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria are the most active in the certification process. Regulated electrical appliances must obtain a certificate of approval issued by the monitoring department and have a specified mark (the certificate number must be marked). The first letter of the certificate number shows which state or region issued the certificate. For example:

(1) Q04051 (Queensland) --- Q Number

(2) W2015 (Western Australia) --- W Number

(3) V03101 (Victoria) --- ESV Certificate V Number

(4) NSW18099 (New South Wales) --- DOFT Certificate NSW Number

2). Non-regulated electrical appliances can be sold directly without certification, but manufacturers must ensure that the electrical safety of the products complies with the Australian standard AS/NZS3820:1998 (Essential Safety Requirements for Low Voltage Electrical Equipment); the monitoring department will issue a Certificate of Suitability for products that meet the standard requirements. Electrical products that have obtained a Certificate of Suitability can be marked with a certificate number, and the last letter of the certificate indicates which state or region issued the certificate, such as:

(1) CS/431/Q (Queensland)

(2) CS/108/NSW (New South Wales)

2. EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility)

Australia's electromagnetic compatibility compliance program is based on the Radio Communications Act 1992 (Radio Communications ACT 1992) and covers a wide range of products, including motor-driven and heat-generating electrical products, power tools and similar products, electric lamps and similar equipment, television receivers and audio equipment, information technology products, industrial scientific and medical instruments and equipment, ignition engines and arc welding equipment, etc. The plan divides products into three categories according to the degree of danger of electromagnetic interference generated by the products. Products in the second and third categories must be marked with the C-Tick mark. However, no matter which category the product belongs to, it must comply with the relevant EMC standards.

Category 1 products: products that have only a slight impact on devices using the radio spectrum, such as manual switches, simple relays, brushless squirrel cage induction motors, AC power supplies/power transformers, resistors, etc. Such products can voluntarily apply to use the C-Tick mark when they are produced and sold.
Category 2 products: products that have a greater impact on devices using the radio spectrum, such as microprocessors or clocked digital devices, rectifiers or slip ring motors, arc welding equipment, switching power supplies, photometers and motor speed controllers, and telecommunications terminal equipment in the information technology (CISPR 22) category (changed from Category 3 to Category 2 since November 7, 2003).
Category 3 products: products that have a serious impact on devices using the radio spectrum, such as industrial, scientific and medical instruments and equipment Group 2 (CISPR11).

Application process
1. A third-party laboratory evaluates the product and determines the test standards to be implemented;
2. If there are any non-conformities in the test, the laboratory will rectify the product to meet and meet the Australian standard requirements;
3. After the test is passed, a test report is issued;
4. Submit the test report to the Australian certification agency for document review;
5. After the Australian review is passed, the RCM certificate is issued;
6. Customers can complete the Australian website registration work by themselves or by the laboratory;
The relationship between SAA certification, C-Tick, A-Tick and RCM
SAA certification is for the control of safety regulations, C-Tick certification controls EMC and radio products, and A-Tick certification controls telecommunications products. The RCM mark is a certification mark launched in 2013. After the product obtains safety certification and electromagnetic compatibility registration, it can obtain the RCM mark through the safety certification regulatory agency. From March 1, 2016, all electronic and electrical products sold must uniformly use the RCM mark; the A-tick and C-tick marks will be replaced. RCM can be understood as a registration system, including SAA and C-TICK.