CE stands for China Export

[Maxlor]

Came accross this while browsing, thought I'd share:

We’ve been particularly interested to observe all kinds of things, electronic and otherwise, which carry a mark which looks a lot like the CE mark, but which doesn’t mean Conformité Européenne. The other mark means China Export – you can see the difference between the two marks in this picture. It’s a sneaky-clever way some people try to get around the regulations.

Here's the link to the full article.

Buyer beware!

[Lurch]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_marking is the full article actually.

[c4757p]

What? I just like that icon.

[Monkeh]

Congratulations, you too have been deceived by the myth-machine that is the internet. Please feel stupid for a bit.

[nctnico]

Indeed. It doesn't matter how you print the symbol on it (mirrored, upside-down, reversed, your own fantasy font, big small, packman, etc). As a manufacturer you are responsible for your products.

[Lurch]

Indeed. It doesn't matter how you print the symbol on it (mirrored, upside-down, reversed, your own fantasy font, big small, packman, etc). As a manufacturer you are responsible for your products.

I think you may have the wrong end of the stick there, or one of us has the wrong stick, or maybe there is no stick?

[liquibyte]

There is no spoon.  Oh, fork it!

[nctnico]

Indeed. It doesn't matter how you print the symbol on it (mirrored, upside-down, reversed, your own fantasy font, big small, packman, etc). As a manufacturer you are responsible for your products.

I think you may have the wrong end of the stick there, or one of us has the wrong stick, or maybe there is no stick?

Ask a lawyer whether not putting a CE logo on your product makes you any less responsible for it.

[Lurch]

Ask a lawyer whether not putting a CE logo on your product makes you any less responsible for it.

Yep, definitely a stick related issue.

[Maxlor]

Congratulations, you too have been deceived by the myth-machine that is the internet. Please feel stupid for a bit.

I feel plenty stupid already, what with dabbling in a field (EE) I don't know much about. To change that is why I'm here in the first place.

As for manufacturers responsibilities... if they can't even get the markings right, I'll make some educated guesses about the effort they went to with the self-certification procedure.

[Lurch]

I'll make some educated guesses about the effort they went to with the self-certification procedure.

TBF, the whole CE/ISO certification thing that everyone is so obsessed with is pretty much completely pointless anyway so it doesn't really matter in the long run.

[Len]

Buyer beware!

What's the Latin for "Wikipedia reader beware"? Caveat wikitor?

[Lurch]

What's the Latin for "Wikipedia reader beware"?

Gullible.

[Polossatik]

Buyer beware!

What's the Latin for "Wikipedia reader beware"? Caveat wikitor?

i wished i could up vote this. nice one.

[sleemanj]

See this thread:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/deadly-insane-design-(cif-ft-02-reflow-oven)-teardown-rant-safety-fix/msg336827/#msg336827

The short version is that CE does not stand for China Export, that's just an urban myth.

Differences in the CE marking from what the dimensions "should be" are just the graphic design team being slack (or thinking they know better, or don't care).

Even "legitimate" CE marks are to a very large extent meaningless, because it's the manufacturer that determines if their own products stand up to the CE requirements, it's not independently assessed.

[Maxlor]

The short version is that CE does not stand for China Export, that's just an urban myth.

Really, that part was tongue-in-cheek. I guess I should have used smileys before:     

Differences in the CE marking from what the dimensions "should be" are just the graphic design team being slack (or thinking they know better, or don't care).

Well, imo that's one aspect of product design where you can't be slack. If you are, it says something about the rest of your design. Besides, I have the feeling there's a bit more to it. There has to be a reason that the markings are never replicated exactly on counterfeit products, for example on all those apple chargers. It must give the guys doing it some slight advantage, otherwise, why not copy those to the letter. Having a varying CE logo probably makes enforcement slightly harder.

Even "legitimate" CE marks are to a very large extent meaningless, because it's the manufacturer that determines if their own products stand up to the CE requirements, it's not independently assessed.

Very unfortunate, that 

[KJDS]

When a product is manufactured outside the EU, it is the importer that is responsible for product liability issues.

[nctnico]

If you look through your own home you'll probably find a product from an A-brand with an incorrect CE logo.

[jolshefsky]

Maybe we can shave a bit with Occam's Razor (and at least have a terrible mixed metaphor/pun to attack this author ...)

I have a feeling some Chinese designers copy what they think people expect to see on products. If it happens to be a logo indicating standards conformance, oh well.

As such, you'll find UL and CE logos on products that would never ever pass the most rudimentary standards either organization uses. For example, see Dave's (even though it doesn't sport such a logo ... I'm sure there are ones that do ... especially on the outer packaging ... I'm just sure of it ... )

I had heard the "Chinese Export" theory and let it live in my brain but on second thought, it does seem a bit silly. Like the country named USA (that's not the United States of America) to trick people when they read "Made in USA." First stop: Wikipedia's USA (disambiguation)—no country named USA outright.