Guidelines for the issue of a statement by a certification body

1. Under section 410 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (the Act), the ACMA may determine an approving body for the purpose of determining that a specified person or association is a certification body for processes associated with labelling of customer equipment and customer cabling. The ACMA has established the following guidelines for the use of certification bodies. A certification body is expected to take these guidelines into account when making decisions to issue written statements certifying that customer equipment or customer cabling complies with applicable section 376 technical standards.

2. For the purposes of these guidelines "test house" means any laboratory (including a manufacturer's in-house test facility), other than a recognised testing authority that is capable of testing to a technical standard made under section 376 of the Act.

3. For the purposes of these guidelines, "labelling notice" means the Telecommunications Labelling (Customer Equipment and Customer Cabling) Notice 2001 as amended from time to time.

4. Where a test report from a recognised testing authority or a test house, as appropriate, indicates compliance with an ACMA technical standard, a manufacturer or importer may obtain a compliance statement from a certification body to ensure that he or she has complied with the requirements of the labelling notice. It is not a requirement of the labelling notice that a compliance statement relevant to an applicable standard be kept in relevant compliance folder in addition to a test report made against the same standard.

General

5. A manufacturer or importer (the applicant) may apply to a certification body for a statement certifying that customer equipment and customer cabling complies with applicable section 376 technical standards, under circumstances where:

1. the customer equipment or customer cabling is required to meet Compliance Level 3 and
   1. the customer equipment or customer cabling has a type approval of a kind mentioned in Part A of Schedule 7 of the labelling notice. The applicant wants to ensure that the requirements under section 16(2)(c) of the labelling notice are properly complied with in circumstances where subparagraphs 16(1)(b)(i) and (iii) are not applicable or able to be met or
   2. where there is no recognised testing authority accredited to test to all requirements in the applicable technical standard, and the applicant has acquired a test report from a recognised testing authority addressing only some of the requirements in the applicable standard and has instead obtained:
      1. a test report from a test house or
      2. design details or
2. the customer equipment and customer cabling is required to meet Compliance Level 2 and
   1. the applicant has acquired a test report from a test house that only addresses part of an applicable standard and there is no test house to test to the remainder of the standard and the design details are available to the applicant or
   2. the customer equipment or customer cabling has a type approval of a kind mentioned in Part A of Schedule 7 of the labelling notice. The applicant wants to ensure that the requirements under section 15(2)(c) of the Labelling notice are properly complied with in circumstances where subparagraphs 15(1)(b)(i) and (iii) are not applicable or able to be met or
   3. the applicant has design details or
3. an applicant wants to apply the A-Tick mark to a modified Telecom authorised or AUSTEL permitted customer equipment, and the applicant has a partial test report against an applicable standard (Refer to Paragraph 10) or
4. an applicant wants to continue to apply the A-Tick mark to an item of customer equipment or customer cabling that was tested to the previous edition of the applicable standard and the requirement in the applicable standard is a subset or less stringent than the previous edition of the standard. (Refer to Paragraph 11).

Issue of a written statement for customer equipment or customer cabling introduced to the market after 1 July 1997

6. Where Compliance Level 3 (see the Labelling notice) applies to an item of customer equipment or customer cabling, the following types of information should be required by a certification body before it issues a written statement that the item complies with technical standards made under section 376 of the Act:

1. a test report from a recognised testing authority that is only able to test the item against part of the applicable standard
2. or cases where there is no recognised testing authority to test to the applicable standard or part of the applicable standard
   1. a test report from a test house, where applicable or
   2. design analysis
3. if relevant to a specific item of customer equipment, one or more of the following :
   1. a GSM customer equipment type approval under the European Union's Council Directive 91/263/EEC of 29 April 1991, and under the obligations of the ACA's membership of the GSM MoU Association (this will only be relevant in circumstances where subparagraphs 15(1)(b)(i) and (iii) and subparagraphs 16(1)(b)(i) and (iii) do not apply)
   2. a Personal Handyphone System customer equipment type approval by the Japanese Approvals Institute for Telecommunications Equipment (JATE) or the (Japanese) Radio Equipment Inspection and Certifications Institute (MKK) (this will only be relevant in circumstances where subparagraphs 15(1)(b)(i) and (iii) and subparagraphs 16(1)(b)(i) and (iii) do not apply)
   3. a type approval for DECT, CT2 or ETSI ISDN telecommunications terminal equipment, given under the European Communities Directive 91/263/EEC of 29 April 1991, and if the item is labelled with the "permission to connect" marking mentioned in Annex VI of the Directive (this will only be relevant in circumstances where subparagraphs 15(1)(b)(i) and (iii) and subparagraphs 16(1)(b)(i) and (iii) do not apply)
   4. an electrical safety certificate of approval or certificate of suitability given by an electricity safety authority of a State or Territory of Australia (this will only be relevant in circumstances where subparagraphs 15(1)(b)(i) and (iii) and subparagraphs 16(1)(b)(i) and (iii) do not apply)
   5. an appropriate statement or certificate of compliance issued by a body recognised under a Mutual Recognition Agreement.

7. Where Compliance Level 2 (see the Labelling notice) applies to an item of customer equipment or customer cabling, the following types of information must be provided to a certification body before it issues a written statement that the item complies with technical standards made under section 376 of the Act:

1. a partial test report from a test house, where applicable
2. design analysis
3. if relevant to a specific item of customer equipment, one or more of the following:
   1. a GSM customer equipment type approval under the European Union's Council Directive 91/263/EEC of 29 April 1991, and under the obligations of the ACA's membership of the GSM MoU Association (this will only be relevant in circumstances where subparagraphs 15(1)(b)(i) and (iii) and subparagraphs 16(1)(b)(i) and (iii) do not apply)
   2. a Personal Handyphone System customer equipment type approval by the Japanese Approvals Institute for Telecommunications Equipment (JATE) or the (Japanese) Radio Equipment Inspection and Certifications Institute (MKK) (this will only be relevant in circumstances where subparagraphs 15(1)(b)(i) and (iii) and subparagraphs 16(1)(b)(i) and (iii) do not apply)
   3. a type approval for DECT, CT2 or ETSI ISDN telecommunications terminal equipment, given under the European Communities Directive 91/263/EEC of 29 April 1991, and if the item is labelled with the "permission to connect" marking mentioned in Annex VI of the Directive (this will only be relevant in circumstances where subparagraphs 15(1)(b)(i) and (iii) and subparagraphs 16(1)(b)(i) and (iii) do not apply)
   4. an electrical safety certificate of approval or certificate of suitability given by an electricity safety authority of a State or Territory of Australia (this will only be relevant in circumstances where subparagraphs 15(1)(b)(i) and (iii) and subparagraphs 16(1)(b)(i) and (iii) do not apply)
   5. an appropriate statement or certificate of compliance issued by a body recognised under a Mutual Recognition Agreement.

8. In issuing a written statement, a certification body statement should follow the format set out in the document Certification Body Statement.

9. The certification body should not issue a written statement certifying that customer equipment or customer cabling complies with the standards when a test report from a recognised testing authority identifies a non-compliance except in the circumstances given below:

1. where an applicable standard requires customer equipment or customer cabling to comply with the requirements of another standard not made by the ACMA and the non-compliance lies in that other standard and does not relate to the heads of power under section 376 and
2. where the test house has incorrectly interpreted a clause in the standard. Under these circumstances, the certification body should inform the ACMA and Communications Alliance of the differing interpretations for the affected clause so that the standard may be amended if necessary.

Variations to Telecom authorised or AUSTEL permitted customer equipment

10. Whilst the permitted items standard (TS100-1997) is in effect, where a modified Telecom authorised or AUSTEL permitted customer equipment is assessed, the certification body would normally assess a test report from a recognised testing authority (if applicable) or a test house against the applicable standard in the context of the modification. The corresponding statement of compliance would take account of the test reports (if any) that were part of the original application for the Telecom Authorisation or AUSTEL permit.

Establishing the validity of test reports to standards that are not current

11. Where the requirements of a current applicable standard are a subset of or are less stringent than a previous edition of the standard, a certification body may issue a written statement that a specific item of customer equipment or customer cabling complies with the current applicable standard by assessing the test report made by a test house accredited by AUSTEL or NATA, against the previous edition of the standard. When issuing such a written statement, the certification body may consult with the ACMA and should have due regard for the heads of power under section 376 of the Act and the requirements of the labelling notice.