First find out whether you actually need to certify at all

SAA covers electrical safety only. RCM is the combined mark covering safety + EMC. Selling in Australia requires both. The RCM registration must be done by an Australian-based Responsible Supplier with an ABN.

No. RCM registration requires an Australian entity with an ABN as the Responsible Supplier. However, product testing (safety + EMC) can be done at CNAS/ILAC-accredited labs in China, with reports submitted to the Australian party for registration.

The efficacy threshold that LED products get rejected on is a GEMS (Greenhouse and Energy Minimum Standards) requirement, not an RCM one — a common source of confusion, because a product can hold a valid RCM and still be unsaleable on energy performance. GEMS thresholds sit in the determination current at the time of supply, and they move. Separately, AS/NZS CISPR 15 governs EMC for lighting equipment, and RCM mark size and standby power have their own requirements. We check the current instrument for your model rather than quoting a number from memory.

Our report is a pre-check — it tells you which pathway applies, what standards are relevant, and where your application is likely to get rejected. It does not replace a CAB-issued certificate. But using us first means you don't waste money on pre-assessment fees or 4–8 week delays.

No, and no consultancy can. Certificates are issued by Conformity Assessment Bodies accredited by JAS-ANZ (or the equivalent body for the scheme). We are not a CAB and we do not sign off conformity. Anyone who tells you they can sell you a certificate directly is either reselling a CAB's work or selling you something that will not be accepted.

Yes. That is a separate, quoted engagement: product grouping and family strategy to cut the number of tests, choosing the CAB and labs, obtaining and comparing quotes on your behalf, preparing the technical file and document pack, running the audit and assessment liaison, and tracking non-conformances through to close-out. Annual maintenance — surveillance audits and renewals — is a separate subscription. We manage the project; the accredited body still issues the certificate.

Then that is the report you get, with the reasoning: which scheme, which scope test your product falls outside, and what obligations remain anyway — Australian Consumer Law, mandatory ACCC safety and information standards, state electrical safety duties, labelling. A scheme not applying never means nothing applies. This outcome is common, and it is the single cheapest thing we can tell you.

No — Australia has no cosmetic product registration. You register the introducing business with AICIS before importing in a registration year (1 September to 31 August), categorise each chemical introduction, keep the supporting records, and lodge an annual declaration by 30 November. Separately, ingredient labelling is mandatory under the ACCC's Consumer Goods (Cosmetics) Information Standard 2020, and a therapeutic claim on the label moves the product to the TGA. Importers from registration-based markets routinely build a product dossier nobody asks for and miss the business registration that is actually required.

Four separate regimes, and they use different regulators, labs and databases. GEMS energy performance and the Zoned Energy Rating Label, where a current determination covers your product class and capacity — the air conditioner determination stops at 65 kW, so larger commercial plant is handled through the NCC rather than a GEMS registration. An equipment licence under the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act for importing pre-charged equipment above the low-volume threshold. The GWP restriction on small air conditioning equipment, which is a factory design decision no certificate can undo. And RCM for electrical safety and EMC. Passing one says nothing about the others.

Usually not. EESS in-scope equipment is rated above 50 V AC and below 1000 V AC and marketed as suitable for household, personal or similar use. Equipment supplied exclusively for commercial use falls outside that test, so there is no equipment registration and no Level 3 registration to buy. What does still apply: EMC and RCM through an Australian responsible supplier, electrical safety duties under each state's own legislation, state gaming rules where the outcome is substantially chance-based or the prize value crosses a threshold, and the mandatory safety standards covering the prizes themselves. Watch the boundary — if you also sell a home version to consumers, that model is in-scope.