What are CSA Standards?
CSA standards are safety standards in Canada for electrical appliances, medical devices, machinery, equipment, etc. The Canadian Standards Association was established in 1919 as a non-profit, non-governmental standardization organization. In the CSA Group today, the Canadian Standards Association develops standards and CSA International conducts product testing and certification.
Purpose of CSA Standards
CSA standards regulate safety of applicable electrical products. In all ten provinces and two territories of Canada, laws require that electrical machinery and appliances connected to power sources conform to CSA safety standards regardless of type or quantity. In this respect, meeting CSA standards is mandatory for applicable electrical products.
Relationship between CSA Standards and Canadian National Standards
Although CSA standards are standards developed voluntarily by CSA members, many of them have been formally adopted as Canadian national standards and are referred to in laws and regulations by the national government, provincial governments and local authorities.
CSA standards adopted as Canadian national standards are identified with a prefix code of “CAN.” (Ex.: CAN/CSA C22.1)
CSA Standards and UL Standards
CSA standards are for products in Canada. CSA-conforming products with NRTL/C certificates are, however, under a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) between Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) of the U.S. and CSA, recognized as meeting testing standards equivalent to those of UL – although they are not UL conforming products in the U.S.
Classification of Standards
CSA Standards are roughly classified into nine groups.
Within the nine major groupings of (1) Lifestyle and environment, (2) Environmental engineering, (3) Electricity and electronics, (4) Communications and information, (5) Construction, (6) Energy, (7) Transport and distribution, (8) Material engineering and (9) Commercial and production management systems, more than 1,500 kinds of standards have been developed and published.
Classification of Certifications
CSA classifies certifications according to kind of products as shown below.
◎Label: Electrical products used at home
◎Re-examination: Electrical products other than those above
◎Component Acceptance
CSA Standards Related to Electrical Safety
CSA standards related to electrical safety are indicated by standard numbers of C22.1 and C22.2, and collectively constitute the Canadian Electrical Code Part I and Part II, respectively. These standards related to each other as follows.
■CAN/CSA C22.1 Canadian Electrical Code Part 1
Safety Standard for Electrical Installation
This standard is constitutes indoor wiring regulations, covering from where the service wire reaches the consumer’s house to the end connection of each load (socket or other connection point to power source for electrical machinery and appliances).
■CAN/CSA C22.2 series Canadian Electrical Code Part II
Part II comprises a series of about 300 kinds of individual standards for electrical machinery, appliances and their parts and materials, which are used by connection to power sources wired according to regulations in Part I.
■CAN/CSA C22.2 No.0 General Requirements
There are regulations common to the CAN/CSA C22.2 series and are always used in combination with individual standards.
■C22.2 No. 0.0 series
Common testing methods, structures, etc., for the CAN/CSA C22.2 series are consolidated and applied together with individual standards.
■CAN/CSA-E series
Affixing CSA Mark and Relation with UL
The U.S. and Canada have a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) making possible unified certification. UL is recognized by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) as a certification organization (CO) and a testing organization (TO), while CSA is recognized as an NRTL by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which makes it possible for UL to test, assess and certify compliance with CSA standards, and CSA to test, assess and certify compliance with U.S. standards.
CSA conforming products tested and certified by UL are called C-UL certified products (C-UL mark) and UL conforming products tested and certified by CSA are called CSA certified products (CSA NRTL mark).
C-UL Mark and CSA NRTL Mark
