Certification has a long history to tell. With the electrification of industries and households it became common to have tested electrically operated appliances by independent testing institutes and subsequently certified with a certificate or certification mark. In most cases, the aim of product testing is the granting of a approval to use one of the protected VDE Certification Marks. The Marks Approval Holder is entitled to affix the VDE Certification Marks mentioned in the marks approval to all products in conformity with the tested one. Certified products are subjected to factory inspection and production surveillance. More than 200,000 types of electrotechnical products are certified and bear VDE Certification Marks.

Test reports of the VDE Institute are not only useful for the certification with VDE Certification Marks, but also for obtaining national marks approvals of other countries in Europe and worldwide. This is possible on the basis of harmonized standards and certification agreements between certification bodies in many countries around the globe. Products marked with the ENEC or HAR Mark of the VDE Institute can be marketed in Europe without any further approval of other signatory bodies of the mentioned agreements. The most important certification agreements are listed below:

Certification Agreements