UL And Kiwa Announce Strategic Market Access Alliance
Agreement provides streamlined certification and testing of the health effects and performance of plumbing products in the global marketplace
Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a global leader in water quality and safety, recently announced a strategic alliance with independent certification organization Kiwa to offer streamlined testing and certification of plumbing products across North America and Europe. The agreement offers UL and Kiwa customers simplified, world class testing processes and certification standards across continents for plastic pipe, faucets, pipe fittings, rubber seals and various other plumbing products.
"Access to Kiwa's sophisticated testing facilities provides UL with new capabilities for testing plumbing products abroad," said Hank Lambert, general manager of UL Global Water and Food Businesses. "By accepting Kiwa testing reports for certification, UL is streamlining the global certification process, making it easier and more economical for manufacturers to reach both North American and European markets."
Plumbing industry manufacturers who take advantage of this alliance will benefit from UL and Kiwa's combined global reach, trusted brand reputations and breadth of certification capabilities. Combining the most stringent testing requirements in North America and parts of Europe, the alliance eliminates the costly and redundant certification and surveillance procedures currently needed for compliance with a patchwork of country-specific regulatory frameworks.
"The alliance offers our clients the opportunity to promote product acceptance across the globe," said Paul Hesselink, CEO of Kiwa. "Together with UL, we are now able to better leverage our technical strengths and project management skills to provide a more clear and efficient path to market acceptance throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe."
Both organizations will manage applications for certification and client inspections will be coordinated by geography, providing customers a cost-effective and efficient process with one primary contact. UL and Kiwa will perform product specification reviews on an on-going basis to monitor for North American and European conformity after the initial certification is made.
UL and Kiwa will exhibit together during International Water Week at Aquatech Amsterdam on November 1 – November 4, 2011 to provide global manufacturers with information on the services and benefits that will be provided through the unique alliance.
About UL
UL is a premier global safety science company with more than 115 years of proven history. Employing more than 7,000 professionals in over 100 countries, UL is evolving the future of safety with five distinct business units – Product Safety, Environment, Life & Health, Verification and University – to meet the expanding needs of customers and the global public. For more information, visit www.UL.com
About Kiwa
Kiwa is an international quality authority that is constantly engaged in improving working processes, products, personnel and organizations. We achieve this by providing certification processes, lab testing, training, inspection, consultancy, research and our technological expertise. Kiwa is active in virtually all market segments, including energy and water supply, construction, agriculture-food, health care and corporate social responsibility. Kiwa has more than a thousand highly qualified employees in over 30 offices in seven European countries, Turkey and China.
SOURCE: Underwriters Laboratories