The Legal Inspection Requirements for  Self -ballasted Fluorescent Lamp s 
 
By the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection  (BSMI), Ministry of Economic Affairs  
 
Introduction:  
  Self-ballasted fluorescent lamps (hereinafter "the commodities") have been su bject to mandatory 
inspection under the Commodity Inspection Act by the Bureau of Standards Metrology and Inspection 
(BSMI) since 1 March 2001.  
In order to encourage industries to reduce the use of chemical substances in electric products and, more 
import antly, to raise consumers' concerns on effective utilization of resources to reduce the environmenta l 
burden, the BSMI proposes that the manufactures or importers shall follow the requirements stipulate d in 
Section 5 "Marking of presence"  of CNS 15663 and clearly mark "the presence conditions of the restricted 
substance(s)" on the body, packages, stickers, or the instruction books of the commodities. Those wh o utilize 
website as a means to announce "the presence conditions of the restricted substance(s)" of  the commodities 
shall also clearly mark the website address on the body, packages, stickers, or the instruction book s of the 
commodities.  
In addition, the BSMI intends to revise the Description of Goods of the commodities and adopt the re vised 
standards CNS 14125 and CNS 14115, which were promulgated on 10 June 2014 and 4 March 2009  
respectively . 
The conformity assessment procedures remain the same, i.e. Registration of Product Certification (RP C) or 
Type Approval Batch Inspection (TABI).  
 
Proposed date o f implementation:   
1 January 2018  
 
Table of the commodities (HS/CCCN  codes ) covered  and their applicable inspection standards : 
 
 Description of Goods  Inspection Standards  C.C.C. Code (the 
first 6 digits are the 
same as HS 
Code)(for reference)  Conformity 
Assessment 
Procedures  
Self-ballasted 
fluorescent lamp s CNS 14125 (2014 -06) excluding the sections "Low 
Temperature Starting Time " & "UV Radiation " 
CNS 14115 (2009 -03) 
CNS 15663 (2013 -07) Section 5 " Marking of 
presence"  8539.3 1.00.00.7 B RPC Scheme 
(Modules II+III ) 
or 
TABI Scheme  
The two kinds of conformity assessment  procedures  are as follows:  
1. Registration of Product Certification (RPC) Scheme (Module s II+III)  
Under this II+III combination of modules used in this scheme, domestic manufacturers or importer s 
must have their products type -tested in advance ( Module  II) by the BSMI or the BSMI -recognized testing 
laboratories before applying for registration of their products. Manufacturers or importers will als o be 
required to ensure by declaration (Module III , conformity -to-type declaration ) that all products whether 
made at their manufacturing facilities or imported at the port of entry are in conformity with the prototypes 
submitted for type -test at Module II stage.  After being  certified and registered by the BSMI , products will be allowed to use the Commodity 
Inspection Mark with the letter ‘R’ and the identification number given by the BSMI. Furthermore, t hese 
products can  clear  customs directly without any further inspection if not be ing sampled by RPC bor der check 
procedure s. The application fee and annual fee for RPC are both NT$5,000  (about US$170) for each 
certification, and the RPC certification is valid for 3 years. If there are any serial products, an extra 
NT$3,000  (about US$102) of application fee will be charged  for every application in each certification.  
The fees for type testing vary by products and depend on the fee policies  of the testing laboratories.  
2.Type -approved Batch Inspection (TABI) Scheme  
Under this scheme, manufacturers or importers  shall have their products type -tested by the BSMI or the 
BSMI -recognized testing laboratories, and then file an application for Type Approval  to the BSMI in Taipei 
or its local branches , depending on where the factory or the shipment is located.  
After man ufacturers or importers have obtained a type -approval certificate, they are still required to file 
an application for batch inspection to the BSMI each time before their products are released from the 
production premises or arrive d at the port of entry. Th e BSMI will then  review the application and the related 
documents while a dditional samples may be required for further testing if it is deemed necessary. Products 
will be allowed to use the Commodity Inspection Mark with the letter ‘T’ and the identificati on number 
given by the BSMI  after they have passed the inspection . The application fee for a Type Approval is 
NT$3,500, and a Type Approval certificate is valid for 3 years.  
The fees for type testing vary by products and depend on the fee policies  of the t esting laboratories.  
 
Further information on the two schemes can also be found  on the BSMI web site : 
http://www.bsmi.gov.tw/wSite/ct?xItem=8673&ctNode=811&mp=2  
Related requirements:  
1. The revised inspection standards and requirements of the commodities  listed above will come into force  
on the date of announcement. The original inspection requirements will be valid till 31 December  2017. 
The applicable  inspection schemes, conformity  assessment modules of RPC and the duration of 
certificates will remain unchanged.  
2. Applications of the Certificate : 
(1) Replacement:  
Before 31 December 2017, the  certificate holders  shall prepare documents related to  the location of the 
marking of presence, sample s of the marking of presence (see Table 1 and Table 2) , and the 
“Declaration of the Presence Condition of the Restricted Substances Marking ” to apply for replacing 
the certificate(s) from the BSMI or its branches. Otherw ise, certificate(s) will be rescinde d. After 
replacement of certificate, the expiry date of the replaced certificate is the same as that of the o riginal 
certificate.  
(2) New a pplication  or extension : 
From the date of publication, applicant s shall prepare Type -Test report in accordance with  the 
revised or the original  inspection standard s, documents related to the location of the marking of 
presence, sample of the marking of presence  (see Table 1 and Table 2) , and the “Declaration of the 
Presence Condition of the Restricted Substances Marking ” to apply for certificate (s). The validity 
period of a new certificate will be 3 years from the date of issuance while an extended one lasts 3 years 
since the next day of the previous expiration date. If a pplicant s apply for certificate (s) in accordance 
with the revised or the original  inspection standards (without Section 5 “Marking of presence” of 
CNS 15663) , the expiry date of the certificate  will be only valid till  31 December  2017.  From 1 
January  2018, applicant s shall file a new application or extension o nly in accordance with the revised 
inspection standard s. 
3. The certificate holders of the commodities  shall follow  the content stipulated in  Section 5 “Marking of 
presence”  of CNS 15663  to clearly mark  “the presence condition of the restricted substance s” on the 
body, package s, stickers , or the instruction books of the commodities . Those who utilize  website as a 
means to announce “the presence condition of the restricted substance s” of the commodities  shall also 
clearly  mark  the website address on the body, p ackage s, stickers,  or the instruction books of the commodities . The requirements of Section 5.3 of CNS 15663 are not applicable to the positions of the 
markings.  
4. The Commodity Inspection Mark : 
(1) The Commodity Inspection Mark sh all be printed by the certifica te holder s. The identification number 
of the Commodity Inspection Mark consists of  “A Roman  Letter  (R or T)”, “ Designated  Code (5 
digits )” and “the presence condition of the restricted substance s” (e.g., RoHS or RoHS(XX,XX)) . 
(2) The identification number shal l be placed below or right next to  the graphic symbol  and “the presence 
condition of the restricted substance s” shall be indicated  in the second row.   
(3) The size of the Mark can be applied  proportionally  on a prominent location  of the commodit ies. 
However, t he Mark shall be displayed clearly and use materials that are not easily altered. The content 
shall be in a clearly identifiable and indelible  form affixed permanently to the commodity.  
 
(4) For RPC scheme, the examples of the Commodity Inspection Mark  are lis ted below:  
 
 
 
 
 
(5) For TABI scheme, the examples of the Commodity Inspection Mark  are listed below:  
 
 
 
 
(6)  “RoHS ” indicate s “the content of restricted substance (s), other than exemption s stated in CNS 15663,  
does not exceed the reference percentage valu e of presence condition . 
“RoHS(XX,XX) ” indicate s the content of restricted substance (s) (element  XX, element XX , …), other 
than exemption s stated in CNS 15663,  exceed s the reference percentage value of presence condition . 
Restricted substances: indicate s Pb, Cd, Hg, Cr+6, PBB, and PBDE.  
Examples:  
RoHS(Pb): indicate s that the  percentage content of Pb in certain  parts  of the commodity  exceeds the 
reference percentage value  specified in Annex A to CNS 15663.  
RoHS(Cd, Cr+6, PBB): indicate s that the percentage content of Cd, Cr+6, and PBB in certain  parts  of 
the commodity exceeds the respective reference percentage value  specified in Annex A to CNS 
15663.  
5. The C.C.C. Code listed in the table is used for reference only. The commodity listed in the table sh all 
still complete the inspection procedures before entering into the market even though their C.C.C. Code i s 
identified differently by the Customs Administration , Ministry of Finance or Bureau of Foreign  Trade, 
Ministry of Economic Affairs . 
6. The inspection standar ds of the products listed in the table shall be the version published in this 
announcement. If any updated version is available, the BSMI shall publish the implementation date of  
the updated version in further announcement.  
Table 1. Example of marking s for the presence condition of the restricted substance s exceed ing the 
reference percentage value  
Equipment name: Energy -saving light bulbs , Model : XXX (*) 
Restricted substances and its chemical symbols  
Unit Lead  
 
(Pb) Mercury  
 
(Hg) Cadmium  
 
(Cd) Hexavalent  
chromium  
(Cr+6) Polybrominated 
biphenyls  
(PBB)  Polybrominated 
diphenyl ethers  
(PBDE)  
Cap ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 
Tube  ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 
Filler  ○ − ○ ○ ○ ○ 
PCB Exceeding  
0.1 wt %  ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 
Note 1:   “Exceeding 0.1 wt %” and “exceeding 0.01 wt %” indicate that the percen tage content of the 
restricted substance exceed s the reference percentage value.  
Note 2:   “○” indicates that the percentage content of the restricted substance does not ex ceed the 
reference percentage value.  
Note 3:   The “−” indicates that the restricted s ubstance is exempted . 
 
Table 2. Example of marking s for the content of restricted substance s other than exemption s not exceed ing 
the reference percentage  value  
Equipment name: Energy -saving light bulbs , Model : YYY (*) 
Restricted substances and its ch emical symbols  
Unit Lead  
 
(Pb) Mercury  
 
(Hg) Cadmium  
 
(Cd) Hexavalent 
chromium  
(Cr+6) Polybrominated 
biphenyls  
(PBB)  Polybrominated 
diphenyl ethers  
(PBDE)  
Cap ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 
Tube  ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 
Filler  ○ − ○ ○ ○ ○ 
PCB ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ 
Note 1:   “○” indicates that the percentage content  of restricted subs tance does not exceed the 
reference percentage value.  
Note 2:   The “−” indicates that the restricted substance is exemp ted. 
(*)The “name and type ” can be omitted if the position of the “markings for the presence condition ” clearly 
identifies the corresponding commodity. Multiple types could be shown together if “the markings 
for the presence condition ” are applicable.