From time to time we come across a case of credential fraud, and like to point it out. CE mark fraud is no exception. In this case, it comes in the form of this little airplane.

It’s actually a clever toy. The wheels are attached to a little flywheel that stores the energy of a couple of pushes on the floor. When you let go, the plane will roll by itself. A little train came with it, and it runs the same way.

But, unless someone tells me different, it’s an example of CE mark fraud.

Back Story

I have regressed a bit. I play more with toys now than I have in a few years. Do you want your third-party ISO auditor playing with toys? I would say it is harmless.

Back Story on the CE Mark Fraud

Anyone that has bought an electronic item lately is vaguely familiar with this. This is the mark that is used when a company declares that it meets all of the requirements of that product for the European Union.

I worked on a project at one point wherein we tried to do this with a medical device.

Unlike ISO certification, which only says that a company has a third-party validated quality system, the CE mark means that the product actually “works”.

In order to determine this, the company has to go through a lot of trouble to have the product tested, quite often by a third party registrar. A lot of these organizations are the same as certify ISO conformity.

In the specific case of toys, the CE is mainly interested in whether the containing plastic has a lot of contamination, heavy metals, toxic substances, and that kind of thing.

The Odd CE Mark

I guess it is not odd that this was a cheap toy, but what was odd was the CE mark. Here it is.

You can tell the country of origin, the maker of the toy is provided, but not the third-party registrar that validated the claim of CE compliance.

There was also something a bit odd about the mark itself.

According to this source:

(link)

it is not completely unheard of for there to be a very similar, but counterfeit mark:

The “real” CE mark is the mark on the left, wherein the radius of the C is in alignment with the radius of the E. Anything else isn’t the CE mark.

So here’s the CE mark of the offending airplane:

Here is an imperfect capture of the CE mark along with an imperfect extension of the circle per the above drawing:

So I am going to go out on a limb and say that the mark itself is invalid, it “looks like” the CE mark but does not meet the specifications. CE Mark Fraud seems to be confirmed.

I guess we can stop right there and conclude that our little airplane is out of conformity. But, as was pointed out in the above article, just because the CE mark itself doesn’t meet the requirement, it doesn’t mean that the toy itself is toxic.

ce mark.jpg

What Else?

I had to get a laugh out of the QC sticker which says that the ID marker is 123456789.

I also googled “NKOK Inc.” and got this rather pleasant looking office building in Irwindale California:

The “parent company” if there is one, is mainly selling a lot of radio controlled toys but this is obviously not a manufacturing place. I think we can assume that the actual item is produced elsewhere and imported. These guys may be a distributor.

(Another LinkI

Three of the 12 reviews say that the toys themselves did not so much as work , even right out of the box. Stuff happens.

What else? Oh, not surprisingly, these guys have a page on the famous retail website that we pick on all the time.

(Yet Another Link)

Here actually, is our little airplane. One can buy one of these for either 14 or 39 dollars. This proves once again that the marketplace is imperfect.

So what are we to make of all of this?

As usual, there are a lot more questions than answers.

First: Should I be concerned that this little toy has a lot of heavy metals or toxic materials? The credentials that say it doesn’t are clearly fake. The CE mark is supposed to mean something. CE mark fraud erases all that.

Secondly, what are we to make of the rest of these toys? I see they’ve licenced Sonic the Hedgehog. Will Sonic burst into flames at some point?

Thirdly, why did they bother with the fake CE mark? It costs money in mold tooling to fabricate a mark that appears to be CE mark fraud. Do they really think they will convince anybody that they checked whether the product is safe?

Fourthly, why is it that the famous internet shopping website that profits from selling this little plane not lowered the boom on these guys for selling fraudulently marked products?

Fifthly, I guess the rhetorical question: Whose job is it to police this stuff? At the current moment, with seemingly more lethal stuff happening, who are you going to call to report CE mark fraud? Are the local cops going to show up?

If it makes anybody feel better there is a 5000 euro fine for CE mark fraud, and there is also a program for “self certification.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_marking

But, Whose job is it to track this stuff down?

Sixthly: Does your typical American toy buyer know or care what a CE mark is? Do they not buy toys based on whether they look like they would keep the little tykes busy for awhile, even if they do ingest some heavy metals.?

I guess I am just glad this one did not cost me $39 which seems like a lot.

Seventhly: I’d hate to be hooked up to a ventilator that had a CE mark like this.

Fraudulent CE Mark Forward Program:

We will start by turning these guys in to the CE.

We will also send a link to Amazon about this issue. If they are cracking down, we will know it.

Thirdly, evidently the CE mark program is such that I can request a certificate of conformity from the company, which I will now do (since I have a little spare time).

I will let you know if anything comes of it.

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