There is a peculiar idea in international product certification that refuses to die: if you want to sell the same product in ten countries, you must test it ten times, presumably because electricity behaves differently when it crosses a national border. Your perfectly innocent power supply might become a menace to society somewhere between Chicago and Copenhagen.
It’s understandable assumption. Certification requirements vary by country, and manufacturers reasonably expect the testing behind those requirements to vary accordingly. But often, the same accredited test results can support market access in multiple countries, meaning the manufacturer has paid for one set of testing rather than financing an international tour for a product that has already demonstrated its compliance.
How to Avoid Retesting Your Product for Every Market
Here are eight things worth understanding before you build an international certification budget around the prospect of testing the same product until everyone involved can recite its electrical characteristics from memory.
1. The Short Answer Is No, Not Usually
When manufacturers ask whether they need to retest a product for every country, the answer is generally no, provided the applicable recognition arrangements and local requirements allow existing test results to be used.
Testing performed by a laboratory accredited by ANAB for the relevant activities can produce results that benefit from international recognition through the ILAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA). The arrangement establishes confidence in the competence of participating accredited laboratories and helps their test results travel beyond the country where the testing took place. This can allow manufacturers to use a single set of accredited test results to support compliance activities across multiple markets, rather than paying to repeat equivalent testing in each one.
Naturally, there are conditions. The testing must fall within the laboratory's accredited scope, the results must be relevant to the applicable requirements, and the destination market must accept them for the intended purpose.
But the basic principle is worth knowing: a product does not necessarily become a new engineering problem simply because it has acquired a new prospective customer in another country. Sometimes the engineering has already answered the question. The remaining work is establishing whether the answer can be used there.
2. This Is the Entire Point of the ILAC Mutual Recognition System
Mutual recognition is an attempt to solve a very specific problem: how do you establish confidence in testing performed elsewhere without making everyone repeat the work?
The ILAC MRA provides a formal framework for confidence in accredited testing and other conformity assessment activities among participating economies. Accreditation bodies undergo peer evaluation to establish that they operate in accordance with the relevant international requirements. Their recognition arrangements, in turn, support confidence in laboratories accredited under their systems.
This matters because testing is not simply a matter of plugging something in, observing that it hasn't burst into flames, and issuing a document that says WELL DONE. Proper testing requires appropriate methods, competent personnel, suitable equipment, and results that can withstand technical scrutiny.
Once those elements have been established, repeating the same work solely because another country wants to sell the product can be unnecessary. The distinction is between repeating the test and establishing that the existing result is acceptable. The second task may still require some investigation, but it is not the same as starting the entire test program again.
Mutual recognition does not eliminate every difference between national requirements. It gives manufacturers a way to avoid duplication where the relevant technical and regulatory conditions permit it, which is rather more useful than treating every international sale as an invitation to rediscover the product from first principles.
3. ANAB's Specific Membership Is What Makes This Work for US-Based Testing
For manufacturers arranging testing in the United States, ANAB's role is an important part of the picture. ANAB is a signatory to the ILAC MRA for relevant accreditation activities, providing a formal basis for international confidence in the laboratories it accredits.
The recognition rests on an established system of requirements and peer evaluations intended to provide confidence in accreditation bodies and the competence of the laboratories operating under their accreditation. For a manufacturer, the practical benefit is that testing conducted in the United States can produce results usable in other markets, where the relevant arrangements and regulations permit it. There is no inherent technical virtue in transporting a product overseas to repeat an evaluation that an appropriately accredited laboratory can already perform.
The important qualifications are the laboratory's scope of accreditation, the standard and methods used, and the destination market's acceptance requirements. ANAB accreditation is not a universal approval of every product tested by an accredited laboratory, nor does it compel every regulatory authority to accept every report.
Understanding the distinction is part of planning international certification correctly. You can learn more about the process in PSC's overview of ANAB/ILAC testing for IT equipment.
4. Mutual Recognition Isn't Universal, and the Exceptions Need Attention
There is a temptation, once manufacturers discover mutual recognition, to swing enthusiastically from one extreme to the other. First, they assume every country requires separate testing. Then they discover international accreditation and conclude that one report will open every market on Earth.
Neither assumption is especially helpful.
Some countries have national certification schemes, product-specific requirements, or additional approval processes that cannot be satisfied by an accredited test report alone. Russia and Israel, for example, may involve additional national requirements or particular certification pathways, depending on the product and the applicable rules.
The IECEE CB Scheme can help manufacturers navigate international certification for products covered by the scheme. It facilitates the acceptance of test results and certificates among participating national certification bodies. A CB Test Certificate may be relevant to a particular market's requirements, but whether it is needed or sufficient must be established for the product and destination in question.
This is an important distinction: international recognition can reduce duplicate testing without removing the need to investigate individual market requirements.
The sensible approach is to identify target countries before the test program begins, then establish what each one actually requires. A market that needs additional certification may still be perfectly manageable. It simply needs to be accounted for before the budget and schedule become works of speculative fiction.
5. Regional Accreditation Cooperation Reinforces the Same Principle
International accreditation cooperation operates at several levels. Alongside global arrangements such as the ILAC MRA, regional organizations help establish confidence in accredited conformity assessment across participating economies.
In Europe, the European co-operation for Accreditation (EA) operates a multilateral agreement among participating national accreditation bodies. Comparable regional cooperation exists in the Asia-Pacific region and the Americas. These arrangements reflect a shared principle: where the competence of a laboratory and the validity of its work can be established through recognized systems, duplicating that work should not automatically be necessary.
The regional arrangements have their own scopes and conditions, and they do not guarantee that every report will be accepted for every regulatory purpose. They do, however, reinforce the broader role of accreditation in making technical results more portable. This is particularly useful for companies entering several markets at once. The more countries involved, the more valuable it becomes to distinguish between testing that must genuinely be repeated and testing that can support multiple certification activities.
6. In-Country Registration Is a Different Step From Testing
Here is where a useful cost-saving principle can turn into a misunderstanding. Not needing to repeat testing does not mean you can necessarily sell a product in a country without completing any further steps. Some markets require test reports to be submitted as part of a local registration, approval, or certification process, even when the underlying testing itself does not need to be repeated.
Testing and registration answer different questions. Testing evaluates the product against specified requirements. Registration or certification processes may require a local authority or organization to review the results, confirm supporting information, and establish whether the product meets the conditions for market access. A product can therefore have perfectly usable test results and still need additional work before it can legally be sold in a particular market.
For manufacturers, the distinction affects both budget and schedule. A proper international certification plan accounts for the cost of testing as well as applicable registration fees, documentation, certification procedures, and other local requirements.
The encouraging part is that an additional administrative or certification step may be much less burdensome than repeating an entire test program. The less encouraging part is that someone needs to determine which steps apply before the project gets underway.
7. The Myth Persists for Several Understandable Reasons
If international recognition can reduce duplicate testing, why do so many manufacturers assume every country requires its own testing program? History. International certification arrangements have evolved, and some manufacturers still operate according to practices established when color TV was a novelty and separate national testing was more common.
Experience is another factor. A manufacturer that has encountered a complicated national certification requirement may reasonably expect similar demands elsewhere. Unfortunately, one country's requirements are a poor substitute for another country's rules, even if the first experience was sufficiently unpleasant to be remembered in exquisite detail.
There is also the fact that accreditation and mutual recognition are not always familiar to people outside compliance and regulatory work. A manufacturer may know exactly how to design a product, manage a supply chain, and launch a new market, yet have little reason to understand the international arrangements governing laboratory accreditation until certification becomes an immediate concern.
And sometimes the problem is simpler: nobody has revisited the assumptions built into the budget. If every previous project included separate testing for multiple countries, the next project may inherit that approach without anyone asking whether it remains necessary.
8. Focus on Moving Forward, Even If Past Products Were Retested Unnecessarily
If you've previously paid to have the same product tested in several countries when existing results could have been used, there is no need to conduct a forensic investigation into every invoice since the beginning of the company. The historical cost is a sunk cost. The useful question is whether the same expense can be avoided next time.
Future products, and certain renewals or updates to existing certifications, may benefit from testing conducted under an appropriately accredited program that supports recognition across multiple markets. The available approach depends on the product, applicable standards, changes to the design, certification schemes, and destination-country requirements. A review of those factors can help establish which test results will be needed, where additional certification is required, and whether existing evidence can be reused.
That is particularly important for manufacturers developing product families or planning repeated international launches. A certification strategy built around the actual requirements of the target markets can reduce unnecessary work and make budgets more predictable. The objective is not to avoid testing that matters. It is to avoid paying for the same work twice when the relevant requirements do not call for it.
A Few Practical Questions This Usually Raises
How do I find out whether my target country accepts ANAB/ILAC-accredited test reports?
Acceptance needs to be confirmed for the specific destination, product, applicable standard, and certification route. This is a normal part of scoping a testing project and should happen before testing begins. The objective is to establish which existing results can be used and whether additional testing, certification, or registration is required.
Does mutual recognition apply equally to every product category?
No blanket assumption is appropriate. The ILAC MRA supports recognition of accredited results within its scope, but acceptance for a particular product or regulatory purpose depends on the laboratory's accreditation, the relevant technical requirements, and the destination market's rules. Confirming those details is more reliable than assuming every product category receives identical treatment.
Does this mean I never need in-country paperwork?
Not necessarily. A country may accept the existing accredited test report but still require local registration, additional certification, or other documentation. Avoiding duplicate testing can reduce costs and delays without eliminating every step involved in gaining market access.
Want to Know Exactly What Your Target Countries Require?
The practical approach is to examine your intended markets and establish what each actually requires, rather than assuming that every country needs a new test program or that one report automatically settles the matter worldwide.
PSC's NRTL certification team helps manufacturers scope multi-market certification, identify applicable requirements, and determine where accredited test results can support international compliance. Reviewing these questions before testing begins can help avoid unnecessary duplication, establish a more realistic budget, and keep the project moving toward market entry.
Contact John Allen and the Product Safety Consulting team to discuss your product and target markets.
Visit productsafetyinc.com or call 877-804-3066.