BSMI reiterates rules for Referencing Test Data

According to BSMI Information and Video-Audio Product Testing Technology Consistency Seminar on 2025/04/18 (Friday), the following are the rules for Referencing Test Data:

1.      Inspection Administration Group:

According to the Publication No. 10930003521 of this Bureau on September 4, 2020, the regulations and practices for Referencing Test Data in the type test report of electrical and electronic products are reiterated:

1. (1) For identical products that have obtained type test reports, other applicants, with the consent and authorization of the original report holder, may provide samples to the laboratory that originally issued the report and apply for type testing. The laboratory shall confirm that the samples are consistent with the products in the prototype test report and that the same inspection standards and editions are applied before referencing the test data in the prototype test report to issue the type test report for the identical products.

1. (2)   The test data in a prototype test report shall not be referenced if any of the following circumstances exist:

a.      The purchased and sampled product inspection results do not meet the inspection standards, or the defects cause serious harm to people or endanger public safety, etc., which shall not be used as documents for applying for certificates or related conformity assessment procedures according to regulations.

b.     The test data have been referenced from other test reports.

1. (3) The designated laboratories recognized by the Bureau shall ensure the validity of the prototype test report. The validity of the report can be checked in the Bureau's  "Commodity Inspection Application Service" system (https://civil.bsmi.gov.tw/bsmi_pqn/). If the model or certificate referenced has been revoked, its data shall not be referenced.

1. (4) In addition to complying with the original relevant specifications, the type test report that references other people's data should also state the type comparison results, items that need to be tested, test data references and result judgments, and indicate the referenced type test report number and data reference source, etc., which are sufficient for clear identification.

1. (5)   In order to ensure that the products comply with national standards and relevant inspection regulations, if the purchase and sampling inspection results of the products do not meet the inspection standards or other (deemed necessary by the Bureau), all other identical products whose type test reports are quoted or quote the same data will be subject to purchase and sampling inspection or their certificates will be set to be checked (inspected) batch by batch.

1. (6)   In addition to the aforementioned provisions for referencing data in type test reports, type test reports that referencing data from others should additionally indicate the certificate number of the prototype test report corresponding to the verification registration and type approval, or that the prototype test report has not applied for a certificate from this bureau, in order to speed up this bureau's review.

1. (7)  For the report (new report) issued by the data reference evaluation, the laboratory should disassemble and compare the sample (new sample) provided for the application data reference to confirm that it is exactly the same as the test report sample (old sample) approved for authorization, and the sample photo of the new report should be the new sample, not the old sample, to prove that the laboratory has indeed disassembled and compared, and clearly identified the object status of the new sample, so as to comply with the provisions of Section 7.8.2.1 of CNS 17025.

Differences in certification requirements:

There is no difference in the requirements, except that some parts that were originally non-mandatory are announced explicitly to reduce the space for ambiguity.

Differences in testing requirements:

1.      Refer to 1.(2)(b) The test data have been referenced from other test reports.

For example: if the data in report B is referencing from report A, then it is forbidden for report C to referencing the data in report B.

The C report can only reference data from the original A report. Applicant C needs to obtain the consent and authorization of report A holder.

2.      Refer to 1.(7) For the report (new report) issued by the data reference evaluation, the laboratory should disassemble and compare the sample (new sample) provided for the application data reference to confirm that it is exactly the same as the test report sample (old sample) approved for authorization, and the sample photo of the new report should be the new sample, not the old sample, to prove that the laboratory has indeed disassembled and compared, and clearly identified the object status of the new sample, so as to comply with the provisions of Section 7.8.2.1 of CNS 17025.

For example: Identical product, but different applicants. If Manufacturer B (Report B) wants to reference the data of Report A, the original report holder, it must provide new samples to the laboratory for disassembly and comparison, re-photograph the product photos, and replace the product photos on the original report.

Normative data sources: BSMI Information and Video-Audio Product Testing Technology Consistency Seminar on 2025/04/18 (Friday)