> Also, why not fine or ban products that cause problems rather than requiring certification
Because people could get hurt or killed in the meantime. See the 737max for example.
Now it is a dramatic example, but think about any device unwillingly emitting too much electromagnetic radiation potentially being harmful to kids or messing with people pacemakers.
Almost every product is certified in the EU (CE marking), although if you look closely it's self-certification and it's not always clear which sets of certification might be required for a product.
(I'm on the fence about this; personally I think there need to be far more small company / small production run exemptions from these requirements, but on the other hand I don't want a loophole for recklessly dangerous products)
Worst of all: if you package certified CE product... you need to certify the whole package too!!! Think about using some certified CE PC in a cabinet for example...
On the other side: if you forget ventilation in the cabinet, the certified PC might burn... so packaging CE certified components doesn't mean that the whole is risk-free
The NFPA writes the national electric code. They also came out of the insurance industry, and like UL and FM, predate adoption of their standards in regulation. FM is an actual insurance company but it is not OSHA. The history is similar to European organizations like the German TUeV, which came out of the boiler industry. All of them have their roots in disasters of the industrial revolution.
Governments today generally don't operate test laboratories, standards organizations, or certification bodies. DIN, ISO, IEC, BSI etc are not government organizations.
You're right, though, that there's more history of insurance industry involvement in developing safety standards and testing in the US.
> Almost every product is certified in the EU (CE marking), although if you look closely it's self-certification and it's not always clear which sets of certification might be required for a product.
The amount of misinformation on the internet is worryingly high but not unexpected. No such thing as Chinese Export logo exist. It cannot officially exist in the EU since the CE sign is protected. Whatever this website is sharing is FUD and misinformation.
It doesn't mean that nobody fraudulently puts those markings on devices without a testing certificate backing it. However anybody who puts CE mark on a product without complying is risking being punished by EU member states. As an importer and distributer of such goods you'll be punished as well. CE certification is indeed self disclosed but it doesn't mean that you would get away with noncompliance.
The "China Export" logo is extremely funny as it's basically a Chinese response to "you need a label? OK, fine, we'll give you a label" with none of the underlying bureaucracy.
The "UKCA" one, on the other hand, is real but tragic.
Because people could get hurt or killed in the meantime. See the 737max for example.
Now it is a dramatic example, but think about any device unwillingly emitting too much electromagnetic radiation potentially being harmful to kids or messing with people pacemakers.