VDE certified plastics: glow-wire tests on the finished item are no longer mandatory.
Taken from the new provisions of the household appliance standard DIN EN 60335-1 / VDE 0700 -1 and the certification of the plastic material by the VDE Institute, there are basically four major advantages for the processor: highly reduced test costs, more planning reliability, shorter developing periods and the access to plastics, that are in compliance with all major flame-protection standards globally.

In order to receive the test seal of the VDE Testing and Certification Institute according to the household appliance standard the glow-wire test on the finished item had to be passed. This is now no longer a mandatory requirement. Moreover, the appliance manufacturer can use plastic material for his component which has already been tested and certified by the VDE according to the glow-wire test on plate-test bodies.

First materials certified
With six products from the Durethan series and one product from the Pocan series the market has already access to a lot of flame retardant polyamides and polyesters, which are certified by the VDE on the basis of the DIN EN 60335-1 /VDE 0700-1.

Auditing of the plastics manufacturers
The VDE certification of plastics is subject to very strict requirements in order to achieve an optimal safety for the consumer. Thus the production sites of plastic manufacturers are audited and certified each year concerning their quality assurance measures. There are annual surveillance inspections of the production sites. Finally, the already certified materials will be re-examined very carefully concerning the flame retardant characteristics as a quality surveillance measure.