Home › Guides › Lighting Certifications for Importers: CE, RoHS, UKCA, UL and ETL
Which certification a decorative light needs is decided by the destination market, not by the product alone. In the European Union a luminaire must carry CE marking and be supported by an EU Declaration of Conformity covering the applicable directives. Great Britain uses the UKCA mark. In the United States and Canada a fixture needs a listing from a recognised testing organisation, and the marks seen most often are UL and ETL. RoHS is a substance-restriction requirement rather than a safety mark, and it applies alongside the safety rules rather than instead of them.
| European Union | CE marking, plus an EU Declaration of Conformity naming the directives applied. Low Voltage Directive 2014/35/EU, EMC Directive 2014/30/EU and RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU are the core set for luminaires. |
|---|---|
| Great Britain | UKCA marking under UK product safety rules. The UK government publishes the current position on when CE marking continues to be accepted for goods placed on the GB market. |
| United States | Listing to US safety standards by a recognised testing laboratory. The marks most often quoted are UL and ETL. |
| Canada | Certification to Canadian requirements, which is separate from the US listing. Combined US and Canadian marks are common on the same product. |
| Any market | RoHS-type substance restriction on hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. This restricts what the product is made of; it is not a statement that the product is safe. |
| Lighting specifically | Luminaires are also covered by ecodesign and energy-labelling rules in the EU, which sit alongside the safety and substance requirements. |
CE marking is a declaration by the manufacturer that the product meets the applicable EU requirements. It is not a certificate issued by a regulator. The mechanism is documented in the directives themselves: the manufacturer draws up the technical documentation, issues an EU Declaration of Conformity naming the legislation applied, and affixes the CE marking to the finished product.
Most certification problems on imported lighting are not forged documents. They are documents that are genuine but do not cover the order:
Ask for these at quotation stage rather than at shipment. Documentation gaps found after production are expensive to fix, because they cannot be resolved by reprinting a label.
CE, UL, ETL and RoHS are published across our range. CE and RoHS are the marks that apply in the European Union; UL and ETL are North American listings. Because certification is granted per product, tell us the model and the country you are importing into and we will confirm the certificate and the declaration of conformity that apply to that order — see the compliance section on our company profile.
For the difference between sourcing models, see OEM vs ODM lighting manufacturing. For what a factory should be able to document before you commit, see how to choose a lighting manufacturer in China.
CE marking supported by an EU Declaration of Conformity covering the applicable directives. For luminaires the core set is the Low Voltage Directive 2014/35/EU, the EMC Directive 2014/30/EU and the RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU, with ecodesign and energy labelling rules applying alongside them. The mark is declared by the manufacturer, supported by technical documentation and test reports.
No. CE marking is a declaration by the manufacturer that the product meets the applicable requirements, documented by an EU Declaration of Conformity. A laboratory test report supports that declaration but does not replace it, and a report on its own is not the legal basis for the mark.
No. Certification is granted to a product or a defined product family. Ask for the model list the documentation covers and match it to the reference on your purchase order, rather than assuming a factory-wide certificate.
Both are marks applied by recognised testing organisations to indicate that a product has been listed to the relevant North American safety standard. Which one a product carries depends on which organisation performed the listing, not on the level of compliance, and either can be acceptable for the US market.
No. RoHS restricts the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. It is a substance-restriction requirement that applies alongside safety requirements, not a statement that the product is electrically safe.
The product can be refused at customs or withdrawn from the market, and responsibility normally falls on the importer as the party placing it on the market. This is why the documentation should be requested at quotation stage and checked against the exact model and destination market before production starts.