Nationale Zertifizierung
The Austrian Safety Mark is a synonym for safety and quality of electrotechnical products. Our certificates facilitate the access to the market on national and international level and are the basis for the necessary EU declaration of conformity for your products. The OVE mark thus sends a signal to all consumers and relevant authorities that the product complies with the legal requirements according to the Low Voltage Directive and the EMC Directive.
Who obtains the OVE Mark?
Every trader or manufacturer of electrotechnical devices and installations can apply for the right to use the Austrian safety mark in order to prove the conformity of his products with the relevant standards.
... and how?
The applicant contacts the Austrian Electrotechnical Association (OVE) and applies for the entitlement to use the OVE Mark. He makes the product which is to be tested available, together with a construction and function description, and places a test order with a testing station which co-operates with OVE and is accredited/authorised accordingly. Once the test has been carried out successfully, the OVE-Certificate will be issued, with a period of validity of 2 years.
What happens in case of changes?
OVE has to be notified of intended modifications, which can, like changes in the regulations, require a re-examination. The request to carry out such tests comes from OVE or the testing station, in most cases during an extension. OVE also informs its clients about modifications of the regulations concerning entire groups of appliances.
The OVE-Mark demonstrates that the tested product complies with:
- Harmonized safety- and EMC-standards, e.g. (EN/HD)
- International standards, e.g. IEC
- National standards, e.g. OVE
- Other standards employed, e.g. VDE
OVE notifies holders of Certificates in due time before the validity of the Licence expires. A colour code facilitates the formalities required for extension (three-part form). Of course, the renewal only applies to the originally certified products.
Factory inspection / market surveillance
OVE performs frequent inspection visits at the manufacturer’s premises in order to ensure that all products are identical, within accepted manufacturing tolerances, to the samples for which the certificate was granted. Therefore the production control routines and procedurers will be inspected for adequacy once a year. In addition, OVE carries out a continuous market surveillance to ensure the correct use of the mark. OVE, as the Certification Body responsible for the use of the mark, is obliged to withdraw the OVE mark if the OVE’s Rules and General Conditions for Certification (German) are not met. An abuse of the mark can also be sued.
Applicants wishing to make use of the CB-Procedure of the IECEE or the CENELEC Certification Agreement (CCA) in order to obtain the OVE mark, shall submit the relevant documents together with a specimen for comparison to OVE. Of course, OVE also carries out initial testing for CCA and CB according to the current procedures.