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Counterfeiting of electrical products is a growing global problem. Highly regulated in the sense that third-party certification or conformance to relevant product safety standards is required to meet installation code requirements in North America, counterfeits, by definition, do not conform.
Two forms of circuit breaker counterfeiting have appeared in North America. All three nations have been afflicted with circuit breakers that bear counterfeit labels, including certification marks. These fraudulent circuit breakers have two sources: Far East producer/exporters with complicit Canadian importers, and building demolition.
The electrical industry in North America goes to market using authorized distributors or wholesale companies. That means, each wholesale company aligns itself with a single product manufacturer of a given product such as circuit breakers including their corresponding assemblies, panelboards and switchboards. In Canada, for example, NEDCO sells Schneider Electric products, but not Eaton Electrical Group products; those are distributed by Westburne, WESCO and Harris & Roome (in the Maritimes).
Over the past fifteen years an alternative supply chain has grown. This black market has discovered that circuit breakers from demolition sites are plentiful. However, the condition of these pieces is such that they would not be saleable in the condition they are in when retrieved from the demolition dumpsters. Moulded case circuit breakers are produced with no provision for repair once end of life has been reached. That fact has not deterred those without regard for electrical safety. They have produced replica labels for circuit breakers with original labels that are damaged or perhaps do not correspond to the electrical need.
The second source of fraudulent circuit breakers is the copied product. It is wrong to call these replicas circuit breakers, because while they look like circuit breakers they are only replicas. They have not been tested to the product safety requirements, and therefore represent a threat to the electrical safety infrastructure in Canada, as well as peoples lives.
This seminar offers an opportunity to hear about some of the investigations in Canada involving both industrial/commercial moulded case circuit breakers as well as residential devices. How to protect yourself, your company and your employees is a significant part of this discussion. |
