UL, a global safety and science leader, has announced that its cable fire safety and performance laboratory has won approval from the UAE Civil Defense to conduct tests on the safety and performance of fire-resistant cables.

The in-country facility, located in the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi (ICAD), enables manufacturers, brands and suppliers of fire-resistant cables in the Middle East to access a local laboratory when applying for a mandatory Civil Defense Certificate of Compliance.

Prior to this, UL’s approved laboratories in the US used to conduct the testing and certification, while the testing for product exports to the UAE market was done in Canada.

These laboratories are accepted by the regulatory authorities as certification bodies and testing laboratories.

According to UL, this UAE Civil Defence nod confirms the facility is an accepted testing and/or certification lab and that testing conducted within the facility adheres to International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), British standards (BS) and European Standards (EN).

“The UAE strives to be one of the safest countries in the world, and that is why authorities such as the UAE Civil Defense were established,” remarked Sameer Abdul Salam, the UL’s senior business development manager for the Middle East and Africa region.

“To import, manufacture or sell fire safety products in the UAE and other countries in the Gulf region including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman, manufacturers must demonstrate the safety of their products through testing and certification through an approved testing laboratory and certification body,” he noted.