Underwriters Laboratories® Classification

About UL

Underwriters Laboratories® is an independent product safety certification organization that has been testing products and writing standards for safety for more than a century. UL evaluates more than 19,000 types of products, components, materials and systems annually with 21 billion UL Marks appearing on 72,000 manufacturers' products each year. UL's worldwide family of companies and network of service providers includes 62 laboratory, testing and certification facilities serving customers in 99 countries.

Standards for Safety

UL has developed more than 1,000 Standards for Safety. Our Standards for Safety are essential to helping ensure public safety and confidence, reduce costs, improve quality and market products and services. Millions of products and their components are tested to UL's rigorous safety standards with the result that consumers live in a safer environment than they would have otherwise.

Building Materials

To protect lives and property, Underwriters Laboratories® applies modern test methods and analyses and is dedicated to working with architects, regulatory authorities, manufacturers, insurers, building owners, retailers and other partners in the building materials community. With a time-tested approach that balances safety with the need for innovation and global access, UL works with building industry professionals to improve safety both at work and at home.

UL Marks and Labels

There are many types of UL Marks described below, each with its own specific meaning. The only way to determine if a product has been certified by Underwriters Laboratories® is to look for the UL Mark on the product itself. In a few instances, the UL Mark may be present only on the packaging of a product.

Some products certified by UL are components that are intended to be used in the manufacture of a complete Listed product. These components cannot bear the UL symbol, but may use a special Recognized Component Mark.

The UL Mark on a product means that UL has tested and evaluated representative samples of that product and determined that they meet UL requirements. Under a variety of programs products are periodically checked by UL at the manufacturing facility to make sure they continue to meet UL requirements. The UL Marks may be only used on or in connection with products certified by UL and under the terms of written agreement with UL. In addition to these marks, UL also provides access to the marks required in a number of other key world markets.

--Provided by Underwriters Laboratories®.