29 September 2015
Source: Lux Magazine
Lighting equipment test centre LIA Laboratories is advising lighting specifiers and installers to ensure the products they are considering for use have been subject to a meaningful, independent verification.
The centre stresses the importance of ensuring that lighting equipment delivers performance in line with expectations and manufacturers’ claims. Many lighting products entering the market do not meet the required standards, yet they achieve a certain level of market penetration by being low-priced.
“Whether it’s lamps, luminaires or lighting controls; the key words are ‘meaningful’ and ‘independent’,” warns LIA Laboratories’ general manager Mark Salt. “Many people believe that the CE Mark is the only certification that is required, but it’s important to bear in mind that suppliers ‘self-declare’ the CE Mark. There is no independent verification of safety or performance,” he says.
Salt notes that the CE Mark is focused on safety through compliance with several EU Directives that do not encompass performance parameters such as light output, lamp life and energy efficiency.
“Safety issues are clearly of vital importance but, in terms of providing the customer with a lighting system that delivers on expectations, it is essential that these performance criteria are also subject to independent verification. For example, the lumen output of lamps should correspond to manufacturers’ figures and luminaires should deliver the expected photometric performance,” he adds.
Read more on this story at Lux Magazine