British Approvals Service for Cables (commonly known as BASEC) is an independent accredited certification body headquartered in

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

.About BASEC
Voltimum. Retrieved 13 October 2014. Here, the organization's dedicated testing laboratory also operates which is believed to be the largest of its type in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

.State-of-the-art test laboratories approach readiness
Voltimum. 13 August 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2014. BASEC was established in 1971 and principally provides

product certification Product certification or product qualification is the process of certifying that a certain product has passed performance tests and quality assurance tests, and meets qualification criteria stipulated in contracts, regulations, or specifications ...

services for all types of cable and wire, ancillary products and

management system A management system is a set of policies, processes and procedures used by an organization to ensure that it can fulfill the tasks required to achieve its objectives. These objectives cover many aspects of the organization's operations (including ...

s within the cable industry. The organization maintains operations throughout the world including

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

. BASEC also offers

process capability The process capability is a measurable property of a process to the specification, expressed as a process capability index (e.g., Cpk or Cpm) or as a process performance index (e.g., Ppk or Ppm). The output of this measurement is often illustrated ...

assessment in cable making, certification of innovative and variant cable products, and provides

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

investigation, testing and advice in connection with the manufacture or use of cables, or in the event of disputes.A Simple Guide to BASEC
BASEC. Retrieved 13 October 2014.

History

BASEC has been testing and certifying

electrical cable An electrical cable is an assembly of one or more wires running side by side or bundled, which is used to carry electric current. One or more electrical cables and their corresponding connectors may be formed into a ''cable assembly'', which ...

s for over forty years.Accredited Bodies
QA Register. Retrieved 14 October 2014. The organization was formed in 1971 by a number of leading industry bodies, including BSI, BCA, The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE), and The Electrical Contractors Association (ECA), a group which has now been joined by The National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting (NICEIC). By detailed examination of manufacturers' production processes and controls, and rigorous testing, BASEC ensures that products meet appropriate British, European and International

standards Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

. The organization has grown to be a modern, accessible body servicing and representing its many client manufactures. The organization's Board and Certification Committee provides independent governance. BASEC is Government-nominated and accredited by

UKAS The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the sole national accreditation body recognised by the British government to assess the competence of organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection and calibration services. It e ...

, demonstrating competence, impartiality and reliability in its ability to deliver results.Accredited Certification Body
UKAS. Retrieved 14 October 2014. BASEC is a member of the HAR agreement group of

European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization CENELEC (french: Comité Européen de Normalisation Électrotechnique; en, European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) is responsible for European standardization in the area of electrical engineering. Together with ETSI (telecommun ...

(CENELEC). This provides certification to harmonised cables within Europe in accordance with the

harmonization In music, harmonization is the chordal accompaniment to a line or melody: "Using chords and melodies together, making harmony by stacking scale tones as triads". A harmonized scale can be created by using each note of a musical scale as a roo ...

standard.About HAR Cables
Harmonised Cables. Retrieved 14 October 2014. BASEC provides HAR scheme certification to manufacturers based in the UK and Ireland, where certified cables are marked with the approval legend ''BASEC ''.Members of HAR
EEPCA. Retrieved 14 October 2014. BASEC is affiliated with and supports the work of the Approved Cables Initiative (ACI) in seeking a cross market solution to the problem of sub-standard and

counterfeit To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...

cable in the UK market.Industry Associations
ACI. Retrieved 14 October 2014.

Product certification

BASEC's main approval service is

Product Certification Product certification or product qualification is the process of certifying that a certain product has passed performance tests and quality assurance tests, and meets qualification criteria stipulated in contracts, regulations, or specifications ...

which applies to individual cable types. All products are rigorously tested to meet necessary and appropriate

through detailed examination of manufacturers production processes and controls. Product samples are retrieved from the client manufactures on which BASEC then carries out tests at its accredited

laboratories A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physicia ...

in Milton Keynes.Role of the BASEC Assessor
Voltimum. Retrieved 14 October 2014. BASEC also verifies that products fully comply with the relevant specification by full type testing at independent laboratories or by witnessing tests at the client

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

. Manufacturers may apply for a license to display the BASEC mark on their products only when BASEC is satisfied that their manufacturing systems are capable of consistently producing cable products. After having attained a BASEC Product Marking License they are subjected to regular factory

audit An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon.” Auditing ...

s and products surveillance testing. BASEC issues certificates to unique, specific products when they have passed thorough testing and the manufacturer can demonstrate ongoing

conformity Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms, politics or being like-minded. Norms are implicit, specific rules, shared by a group of individuals, that guide their interactions with others. People often choo ...

. Cables are tested against the requirements of the relevant

for characteristics such as: * Electrical and/or data signal breakdown * Flexing,

abrasion resistance Abrasion is the process of scuffing, scratching, wearing down, marring, or rubbing away. It can be intentionally imposed in a controlled process using an abrasive. Abrasion can be an undesirable effect of exposure to normal use or exposure to t ...

and impact performance * Stretching characteristics of the insulating material * Operational properties at high and low temperatures * Cable construction and dimensions within defined tolerances *

Conductivity Conductivity may refer to: *Electrical conductivity, a measure of a material's ability to conduct an electric current **Conductivity (electrolytic), the electrical conductivity of an electrolyte in solution **Ionic conductivity (solid state), elec ...

The organization has extended its

United Kingdom Accreditation Service The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the sole national accreditation body recognised by the British government to assess the competence of organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection and calibration services. It e ...

(UKAS) accreditation to include

ISO/IEC 17025 ISO/IEC 17025 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories is the main ISO/IEC standard used by testing and calibration laboratories. In most countries, ISO/IEC 17025 is the standard for which most labs must ho ...

.Accredited Testing Lab
UKAS. Retrieved 15 December 2014.

Management System certification

Most cable manufacturers, distributors and service providers now operate with formalised

s. These give customers a degree of reassurance that the organization has procedures and processes in place that will assist in the delivery of a product, process or service that conforms to expectations, and that if things go wrong then the organization will respond appropriately.Quality Management and Product Certification
BASEC. 08 October 2010. Retrieved 20 December 2014. BASEC provides management system

certification Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

to cable manufacturers and other organizations involved within the cables sector. Assessment may be to an individual

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

or to two or more in an integrated manner, such as: *

Quality management systems A quality management system (QMS) is a collection of business processes focused on consistently meeting customer requirements and enhancing their satisfaction. It is aligned with an organization's purpose and strategic direction (ISO 9001:2015). I ...

ISO 9001 The ISO 9000 family is a set of five quality management systems (QMS) standards that help organizations ensure they meet customer and other stakeholder needs within statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service. ISO 90 ...

Scheme for the Certification of Quality Management Systems
BASEC. Retrieved 06 March 2018. *

Environmental management system An environmental management system (EMS) is "a system and database which integrates procedures and processes for training of personnel, monitoring, summarizing, and reporting of specialized environmental performance information to internal and exte ...

s to

ISO 14001 ISO 14000 is a family of standards related to environmental management that exists to help organizations (a) minimize how their operations (processes, etc.) negatively affect the environment (i.e. cause adverse changes to air, water, or land); (b ...

Scheme for the Certification of Environmental Management Systems
BASEC. Retrieved 06 March 2018. * Health and

Safety management systems A safety management system (SMS) is designed to manage safety risk in the workplace, occupational safety being defined as the reduction of risk to a level that is as low as is reasonably practicable or ALARP to prevent people getting hurt. Desc ...

OHSAS 18001 OHSAS 18001, Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series, was an international standard for occupational health and safety management systems that was subsequently adopted as a British Standard. Compliance with it enabled organizations to dem ...

Scheme for the Certification of Health and Safety Management Systems
BASEC. Retrieved 06 March 2018. BASEC's own approach to management system

is tailored specifically to cable making. It is designed to assess an organizations ability to produce goods and services consistently to specification and customer requirements in a safe manner with due regard to the environment. BASEC is

accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

against ISO/IEC 17021 for QMS certification and for EMS certification.

Construction Products Regulation (CPR)

As of 1 July 2017 under the Europea
Construction Products Regulation (CPR)
it is now mandatory for cable manufacturers and suppliers to apply CE marking to any products covered by the harmonised European standard EN 50575. The CPR applies to all cables placed on the market for use in fixed installation in domestic, commercial and industrial premises and other civil engineering works anywhere in the European Union. It applies to power, communications and fibre optic cables irrespective of the place of manufacture. These tests with a few exceptions need to be carried out by an independent

Notified Body A notified body, in the European Union, is an organisation that has been designated by a member state to assess the conformity of certain products, before being placed on the EU market, with the applicable essential technical requirements. These e ...

. BASEC is designated Notified Body No. 2662 for the CPR System 1+ and System 3. BASEC has the fire test equipment to undertake the following tests: * Heat of combustion EN ISO 1716 * Heat release and smoke production EN 50399 * Vertical flame propagation EN 60332-1-2 * Smoke density EN 61034-2 * Acidity / acid gas content EN 60754-2

The BASEC mark

The BASEC mark found upon approved cable products is a recognized sign of assurance of independent cable testing and approval.When cable has to be safe it has to be BASEC
Voltimum. Retrieved 21 October 2014. Manufacturers may apply for a license to display the BASEC

mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

on their products only when BASEC is satisfied that their manufacturing systems are capable of consistently producing safe cable products, through assessment to the BASEC Product Certification Requirements. Manufacturers also have the option of displaying the BASEC name or

roundel A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of differ ...

on reels and drums. BASEC approved manufacturers recognize quality and

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

and this should be seen as a sign of assurance for contractors, customers and wholesalers.BASEC Mark and Logo
BASEC. Retrieved 21 October 2014. Cable

not only specify the dimensions and materials of a cable, they also require that a range of specific

tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

are undertaken to prove the construction and performance.Choosing the Right Cable for the Environment
BASEC. 06 September 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2014. Many non-approved cables have not been subject to the required tests. It is a common misunderstanding that a cable is compliant with standards or even BASEC approved just because the supplier claims that it has been produced to a particular

. Cable marked with only a standard number should be treated with caution, it is probable that nobody

of the manufacturer has examined that cable, and the claims made may be unreliable.Approved Cables
ACI. Retrieved 21 October 2014. Only cable

marked In linguistics and social sciences, markedness is the state of standing out as nontypical or divergent as opposed to regular or common. In a marked–unmarked relation, one term of an opposition is the broader, dominant one. The dominant defau ...

with the ''BASEC'' name is BASEC approved, by demonstrating its compliance to the required standards.

Investigation, testing and advice

Upon the occurrence of a concern, problem or dispute in relation to use of cables, for example in the case of failure or performance problems, BASEC can conduct an independent investigation into performance or compliance to a specification. This may include testing and the assessment of

specifications A specification often refers to a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. A specification is often a type of technical standard. There are different types of technical or engineering specificati ...

. BASEC will use appropriate experts, and commission tailored examination and testing programs from suitable

, to address the problem. The organization will advise on the cases of the problem and provide assistance with the selection of specifications. As an official

under the European Low Voltage Directive, BASEC can perform assessments and prepare

technical report A technical report (also scientific report) is a document that describes the process, progress, or results of technical or scientific research or the state of a technical or scientific research problem. It might also include recommendations and co ...

s for manufacturers and importers of cable products. BASEC is also able to provide expert witness services in cases of

legal dispute A legal case is in a general sense a dispute between opposing parties which may be resolved by a court, or by some equivalent legal process. A legal case is typically based on either civil or criminal law. In most legal cases there are one or mor ...

.Investigations
BASEC. Retrieved 21 October 2014.

References

External links

BASEC
{{DEFAULTSORT:British Approvals Service For Cables Certification marks Commercial laboratories Electrical safety in the United Kingdom Electrical safety standards organizations Non-profit organisations based in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Milton Keynes Organizations established in 1971 Product-testing organizations Safety organizations Science and technology in Buckinghamshire Standards organisations in the United Kingdom 1971 establishments in the United Kingdom