On June 27, 2023, SAC/TC588 (Electronic Equipment Safety) issued explanation document No.9 for the mandatory national standard GB 4943.1-2022 Audio/video, information, and communication technology equipment—Part 1: Safety requirements (hereinafter referred to as “GB 4943.1-2022”).  

GB 4943.1-2022 is a supportive mandatory standard in the China Compulsory Certification (CCC) system, and it is adopted from IEC 62368-1:2018 with modification. It will come into force on August 1, 2023, and replace two currently effective standards:

· GB 8898-2011 Audio, video, and similar electronic apparatus - Safety requirements

· GB 4943.1-2011 Information technology equipment - Safety - Part 1: General requirements

In this explanation document no. 9, following question is clarified:

Q: For secondary lithium battery that requires fire-proof, when the cell enclosure of the battery has already met the fire-proof request (e.g.: made of aluminum or steel), does it need an additional fire enclosure?

A: The cell enclosure of a secondary lithium-ion battery is not considered as the battery enclosure, so it can not be served as the fire enclosure of the secondary lithium-ion battery. For further clarification:

·   For the secondary lithium-ion battery that does not contain an enclosure, or for those directly use cell instead of battery in the whole unit (e.g.: the cell protective circuit is installed in the whole unit), the whole unit that it matched with should provide the fire enclosure when one is needed.

·   For the lithium-ion battery with protective circuit and is also conformed with safety requirements stipulated in GB 31241 (Lithium ion cells and batteries used in portable electronic equipments—Safety technical specification), then the fault simulation is not needed. 

·   Corresponding stakeholders are advised to carry out the certification based on the aforementioned explanation after the implementation of GB 31241-2022 (January 1, 2024). 

Foreign stakeholders should be aware that this kind of explanation document is the reply of the standard drafting organization to the frequently asked questions or common issued of the standard. It will only be released after the internal discussion and vote of the corresponding TC. Such explanation document aims at providing reference for the testing and certification practice in the country, as well as giving technical support for the government management department. Therefore, it is advised to follow-up on the updates of explanation documents and take necessary actions based on the contents when necessary.

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