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 What is UL Certification?
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is a not-for-profit product safety testing agency that has developed more than 800 Standards for Safety. These Standards for Safety are essential to helping ensure public safety and confidence, reduce costs, improve quality and market products and services. Millions of products and their components are tested to UL's rigorous safety standards with the result that consumers live in a safer environment than they would have otherwise. In addition to helping ensure a safer world, product manufacturers benefit from UL testing through lower insurance rates, and the positive public opinion that the UL certification mark brings to their products.
Finished products that have successfully passed UL testing standards receive certification by UL, and the manufacturer can then promote that fact by displaying the UL Certification Mark on their product or it's packaging. Underwriters Laboratories is committed to ensuring the integrity of their Certification Mark, and they provide very specific guidelines regarding the proper printing of their mark. These guidelines are found in a document called Printing UL Marks, which is available directly from UL or from RR Donnelley Label Technical Services. Suppliers of labels and other printed documents must adhere to those specific printing guidelines. To ensure that they do, UL has a developed a program to certify label printers and to authorize them to print the UL Certification Mark. This program is called the Authorized Suppliers Program, which UL has designated as category PGAA. All of the RR Donnelley label plants have been certified under the PGAA Authorized Label Suppliers program to print the UL mark. Certification for the PGAA program includes an initial inspection followed by regular visits from a UL inspector. Only suppliers that have obtained PGAA authorization are allowed to print the UL mark. Labels that are printed with the UL Certification Mark will be designated by UL as either Type R or Type L, depending on the level of control UL wants to have over the printing of the mark. There are different procedures that must be followed for each type of mark, which are clearly explained in the Printing UL Marks document. During the safety testing of finished products a UL engineer will often determine that a product safety label is necessary to alert product users of potential hazards. To ensure that those product safety labels will stay adhered to the product and remain legible, UL requires these product safety labels to be tested in accordance with a specific set of criteria. Those criteria include substrate type, temperatures, and exposure conditions, and are contained in the UL 969 Marking and Labeling Systems testing standard. Product safety labels that have passed the rigors of the UL969 testing are called UL Recognized Component Labels. The UL Certification Mark is typically NOT printed on UL Recognized Component labels. Labels that are printed with the UL Certification Mark but DO NOT carry product safety information ARE NOT UL Recognized Components, and thus ARE NOT required to pass UL969 testing. Labels that are printed with BOTH the UL Certification Mark AND product safety information are called "combination" labels, and ARE required to pass UL969 testing. RR Donnelley has submitted hundreds of label systems for the UL Recognized Component programs. Most have passed the UL969 Marking and Labeling Systems testing standard. The ones that do pass the testing are put into one of two primary categories for UL Recognized Component labels. Recognized Component Category PGDQ2 covers labels intended for use on impact printers OR without variable imaging. Recognized Component Category PGJI2 covers labels recognized for thermal transfer OR laser printing. Our file numbers for these United States programs are PGDQ2.MH12359 and PGJI2.MH16296. We also have systems recognized for Canada programs in files PGDQ8.MH12359 and PGJI8.MH16296. UL Recognized Component systems may become obsolete due to material and/or ink changes, but they never expire. The recognized components are perpetually maintained by follow-up programs, which involve visits to our label plants by UL field service professionals and ongoing testing of production label samples. To peruse information about RR Donnelley's participation in the PGAA, PGDQ2 and PGJI2 programs, you can go to http://www.ul.com  . Detailed information can then be examined by clicking on the specific file numbers. A search screen will appear, type RR Donnelley in the Company Name box and our files for each of these programs will appear. Detailed information can then be examined by clicking on the specific file numbers.
Due to our large number of existing recognized component systems, the need to submit new materials for UL969 Recognized Component testing is infrequent. When necessary, the process involves submitting a detailed form that provides all of the technical specifications related to the system, along with printed samples of each system. A system includes the label material, an overlamination if desired, the press printed ink, and the variable imaging. UL will test the samples using the testing protocol in the UL969 standard, and if the samples pass the testing will then recognize the system. From start to finish the process of obtaining UL Recognition can take from 6-10 weeks for technical specification and sample preparation by RR Donnelley, then 14-24 weeks for actual testing by Underwriters Laboratories. The variation in time is based on the number and complexity of the systems being tested, as well as the types of exposures conditions being tested. The cost for obtaining UL Recognition also varies widely based on the number and complexity of the systems, and could be as low as a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands. Due to the long time frame and high cost we will always try to use materials that have already obtained UL Recognition. | | ||||
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