New Korean KC battery standard KC62133: 2019 will be enforced
In September 2018 and February 2019, the Korean National Institute of Technical Standards (KATS) respectively issued revised announcements on safety standards for electrical appliances (portable sealed secondary batteries / lithium secondary batteries), the so-called new standards for KC certification : KC 62133: 2018. The announcement of this new standard once caused widespread concern and consultation from battery manufacturers at home and abroad.
According to the announcement, the new standard was originally scheduled to take effect on September 6, 2018, with a transition period of one year. However, since the announcement, the domestic certification bodies and the government authorities have not reached an executable opinion on the specific implementation of the new version of the standard, and the issuing authorities have not used the new version of the standard to issue certificates. Until recently, the relevant departments of South Korea finally announced the specific implementation instructions of the new standard. At the same time, the standard transitioned from KC 62133: 2018 to KC 62133: 2019. The main contents are as follows:
1. The new standard is: KC 62133: 2019, KC 62133-2: 2019
Due to the urgent need to implement the KC law for energy storage battery ESS, the implementation of KC 62133-2: 2019 is postponed and is expected to be postponed to the end of this year. Accordingly, the IEC 62133: 2017 version of the CB certificate is still not accepted when applying for KC transfer.
2.KC 62133: 2019 standard will be enforced from September 6, 2019
2.1 Except for lithium batteries for mobile phones, tablets, and laptop computers, the requirements of KC 62133: 2019 are equivalent to KC 62133: 2015. The KC 62133: 2015 standard corresponds to the IEC 62133: 2012 standard.
2.2 The requirements for lithium batteries for mobile phones, tablets and laptops are different from KC 62133: 2015. Compared with the new KC 62133: 2015 standard, KC 62133: 2019 adds three test requirements:
-2 test items [for vibration and mechanical shock of battery pack]
Please refer to the sixth edition of UN 38.3 (test report), whose requirements are equivalent to KC 62133: 2019;
-1 test item [overcharge test for batteries]
Refer to UL 1642 (Abnormal Charge), whose requirements are equivalent to KC 62133: 2019.
2.3 If the factory (manufacturer) can provide the UN38.3 test report of the battery and the UL 1642 certificate and test data (report) of the battery, it can replace the three test results of KC 62133: 2019.
2.4 If the factory (manufacturer) cannot provide the UN38.3 test report of the battery and the UL1642 certificate and test data (report) of the battery, it can also send samples to South Korea to make three additional tests, the sample number is 6B + 5C.
2.5 For a KC certification application that has passed a CB transfer, its CB must apply for the Korean National Deviation (KR_ND_IEC62133C).
2.6 The KC certificate of the old version does not need to be changed to the new version. Before the KC certification is activated, the KC 62133-2: 2019 standard will automatically upgrade to the new version. However, for lithium batteries for mobile phones, tablets and laptops, you need to submit UN 38.3 and It cannot be updated until UL 1642 or supplementary testing.
2.7 When newly applying for KC certification, a declaration document must be provided to declare the use of the battery.
Remarks: Once the application meets one of the following three conditions, it can be considered as complying with KC62133: 2019
1. CB contains the national deviation of South Korea;
2. Submit the sixth edition UN38.3 test report of battery pack and UL1642 report of battery cell;
3. Submit the samples for testing in Korea.