Exporting to China - what are the rules?

[motion guru]

I came here to post this question and got sucked into the RJ vortex thread of history . . .

Now its late and I hope to get an answer sooner than later.

I have a customer in Seattle that wants me to build him a machine. He said if it works well enough and is compact enough that I should quote two - the second one would of course be at a reduced price to reflect the NRE expenditure reduction.

At any rate - when I consider this machine for the state of Washington, I am aware of UL508A, OSHA, NFPA79 constraints that must be dealt with in order to properly design / manufacture and "sticker" the final assembly for installation.

What kinds of constraints are there for a product going to China? If I want to keep my engineering applicable for both target locations - I would rather know up front if any constraints exist at all. What voltage / frequency is predominant in China?

Thanks for any feedback

 

[MBensema]

Voltages in China are 220v/50hz single phase and 380/50hz three phase

As for standards to design to, can't help you there, but you might be able to get some information from the embassy.

 

[motion guru]

Voltages in China are 220v/50hz single phase and 380/50hz three phase

As for standards to design to, can't help you there, but you might be able to get some information from the embassy.

Great . . . we are using 220V single phase for power so this is good - we don't care if it is 50 Hz or 60Hz

Time to call the guys at the Washington State Dept of Commerce I think

 

[rj newbould]

I came here to post this question and got sucked into the RJ vortex thread of history . . .

LOL I hope you feel it was worth your time.

Good luck finding your answers. Wish I could help you. I'd be surprised if the Chinese are even as restrictive as the USA, if they even have any as you mentioned.

 

[Racer Al]

I believe there are restrictions imposed by the US State department about what kinds of technology can be exported to foreign sovereignties.

 

[Frank Ford]

You're in Seattle. You might try networking through friends and contacts to see if you can get with somebody in the Grizzly organization. They must know EVERYTHING about machines and China!

 

[Dan from Oakland]

The problen with Franks suggestion is that Grizzly is probably very knowledgeable about getting things OUT of China. I imagne getting things IN is a different story. We design instruments that are sold in China- these are regular products not a one-off widget, so I don't know if the same rules apply but Google "China ROHS". Its a joke that we have to meet their requirements when their cities are an environmental nightmare, but that's the way it is. There are other export requirements such as crating materials etc. Most all electric components made here or available are ROHS compliant anyway, but look into it.
There are some other things like gold alodyne is not compliant but clear alodyne is. Hard chrome is non-compliant etc.
If you are doing UL/VDE compliance now you should be in pretty good shape. As someone else mentioned, there are some state department restrictions on technology exports, but that shoud be your customers worry - not yours if you are delivering the widget to him in the US.
Nothing is ever simple anymore.

Dan

 

[CCC]

Betcha it's the only one like it that you'll get to make for China . . .

 

[j king]

CCC knows how this works.

 

[4GSR]

My brother and I are building some special tooling that is going to China. The only restriction we had, it has to be shipped in a metal box, no wood of any kind allowed. This is the second order we have done in the past five years for these people in China. They requested a different mounting configuration than the standard we use here in the States. We figured after the first order, they would copy it and start making their own, it hasn't happen yet! A frieght forwarder out of Houston is handling the paper work. Of coruse, we have our money in hand before it goes to the freight forwarder.

Ken S.

 

[Richard Daugird]

Betcha it's the only one like it that you'll get to make for China . . .

Yep, they will copy your machine, and make a lower quality version of it. Thanks for being part of the financial downfall of the U.S.A.

 

[surplusjohn]

watch the packaging requirements, as mentioned above. I was required to have a certified crate and it cost 1200 bucks!