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PNS Certification

The Bureau of Philippine Standards (BPS) in the Philippines is responsible for ensuring the quality of all goods within 88 product categories. For this purpose, it has established the licensing system for Philippine Standard (PNS) quality and/or safety certification marks, or PNS certification for short.
The certification process always starts with the factory inspection (incl. witness tests) and is followed by product tests in the Philippines, an official application with all results, the mandatory marking and the regular follow-up certifications.

The 88 mandatory product categories to be certified include household appliances,

consumer electronics, lamps & LEDs and related electronics, but also industrial products such as steel, plastic pipes and ceramic bricks, cement and plywood, some chemicals for fire extinguishing and other applications, automotive components such as seat belts, helmets, glass, batteries and tyres, as well as some other consumer goods such as plastic chairs, lighters as well as LPG cylinders.

The most important facts about PNS certification

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Application documents
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months minimum duration
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minimum costs

What is the PNS certification for?

PNS certification has been around since 1992, but development, especially towards mandatory standards, has been rather slow. However, more than half of the 88 product categories concerned were renewed or issued in 2020 alone, so there is a trend here as well. This table lists the 88 PNS certification product categories:

  • Electric fans
  • Electric irons
  • Microwave ovens
  • Electric rice cookers
  • Electric airpots
  • Electric coffee makers
  • Electric toasters
  • Electric cookers
  • Electric hotplates
  • Electric grills
  • Electric ovens
  • Turbo roasters
  • Induction cookers
  • Washing machines
  • Spin dryers
  • Refrigerators
  • Air conditioners
  • Electric juicers
  • Electric kitchen mixers
  • Electric food processors
  • Electric kettles
  • Electric pressure cookers
  • Electric slow cookers
  • Electric multi-cookers
  • Television sets
  • CD/VCD/DVD players
  • Seat belts (seat belts)*
  • Child restraint systems
  • Automotive safety glass*
  • Lead-acid batteries
  • Tubes for car tyres*
  • Tyres for motor vehicles*
  • Speed limitation devices
  • Helmets and visors
  • Preheaters / Magnetic ballasts
  • Electronic ballasts
  • Lamps with built-in ballast / Compact fluorescent lamps
  • LED lamps with built-in ballast
  • Christmas lighting/ Fairy lights
  • Double capped fluorescent lamps
  • Single-capped fluorescent lamps
  • Incandescent lamps (light bulbs)
  • Edison screw lamp sockets*
  • Lamp sockets or tubular fluorescent lamps
  • Starter sockets
  • Lamp starters
  • Circuit breakers
  • Fuses
  • Fuse holders
  • Electrical PVC tapes
  • Plugs
  • Sockets
  • Extension cord sets
  • Snap-action switches*
  • Knife switches
  • PVC insulated flexible cords
  • Thermoplastic electrical wires and cables*
  • BI/GI steel tubes
  • Deformed steel bars
  • Isosceles steel angle bars
  • Re-rolled steel bars
  • Low carbon steel wires*
  • Steel wire nails
  • Steel coils and sheets
  • Pipes (PB) for drinking water supply*
  • Pipes (PE) for drinking water supply*
  • Pipes (PVC) for drinking water supply*
  • Rigid electrical pipe (PVC)*
  • pipes (PVC-U) for drainage and ventilation*
  • Sanitary objects*
  • Ceramic tiles
  • Portland cement
  • Mixed hydraulic cement
  • Plywood
  • Automotive brake fluid*
  • Dry chemical portable fire extinguishers
  • Portable carbon dioxide fire extinguishers
  • Portable foam fire extinguishers
  • Clean extinguishing agent – Halon replacement portable fire extinguishers
  • Fireworks
  • Medical grade oxygen
  • Matches
  • Lighters
  • Monobloc chairs
  • LPG cylinders for motor vehicles*
  • LPG Cylinders for Household
  • Spare parts for LPG cylinders

What is the PNS certification process?

As described above, certification has 6 essential steps:

  1. Submit application documents
  2. Wait for audit date
  3. Product tests on site (“Witness Tests”)
  4. Product tests in the Philippines to confirm the Witness Tests
  5. Receive certification
  6. Apply (Philippine Standard Mark) mark

As you can see, product tests on site and again in the Philippines (note: there are also accredited laboratories in China) are required in each case to confirm the test results on site. This is to ensure that not only the products meet Philippine standards, but also the testing procedures. The entire factory inspection process is to ensure that the production, the test procedures and lastly the product meet the acceptable Philippine standard.

Frequent mistakes

There are errors in the application documents

The formal requirements of the PNS are very specific, formal errors happen more often than errors in content.

You do not have a purchase order or similar on file

Please note that a purchase order or other contractual basis with a Philippine customer for import into the Philippines is part of the required application documents.

The products do not comply with the standards

Philippine National Standards (PNS) are very often based on international standards, especially IEC standards. Nevertheless, there are specific differences every now and then.

The products are not marked/certified

Lack of marking or incorrect marking happens frequently. Please note that there are different markings for certain products.

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