VDE, UL 810, CQC, UKCA: Reading the Approval Marks on a Film Capacitor

The label of a motor run or power factor correction capacitor often carries more symbols than text: a VDE triangle, a backwards "UR", a file number starting with E, perhaps a CQC logo and a CE or UKCA mark. These marks are not interchangeable. Some are third-party certifications backed by factory inspections, some are the manufacturer's own declaration, and some cover only part of what the buyer assumes.

This article explains what each approval states, who issues it, and how a buyer can check that a certificate is genuine and valid, using HYDRA's published certificates as examples.

Two kinds of evidence

Every mark on a capacitor belongs to one of two families. Third-party certification means that an independent body tested samples against a standard, inspected the factory and keeps returning to check that production still matches the tested design. VDE, UL and CQC work this way. Self-declaration means that the manufacturer states, under its own responsibility, that the product meets the applicable law. CE marking under the EU Low Voltage Directive and UKCA marking under the UK Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 work this way.

VDE: the European product certification

The VDE Testing and Certification Institute in Offenbach grants the VDE mark for electrotechnical products tested to VDE, EN and IEC standards. According to VDE, the mark is awarded only after control of the manufacturing facilities, product inspections and regular production monitoring.

A VDE "Marks Approval" names three things: the certificate holder, the product types, and the places of manufacture. HYDRA holds eight of them. Five cover motor run capacitor series (/285, /321, /322, /400 and /500) tested to DIN EN 60252-1 (VDE 0560-8):2014-07, which corresponds to EN 60252-1:2011 + A1:2013. One covers self-healing motor start capacitors (/330) to EN 60252-2, and two cover fluorescent lamp capacitors (/255 parallel and /480 series) to EN 61048 and EN 61049. The supplement to certificate 121204, for example, lists both the Jičín and the Vietnam plant as approved places of manufacture.

Two sentences on these certificates are worth reading carefully. First, the right to use the mark "is granted only to the mentioned company with the named places of manufacture and the listed products." A part made elsewhere is not covered, even if it is identical. Second, the approval "is a basis for the EC Declaration of Conformity and the CE Marking by the manufacturer", proving conformity with the essential safety requirements of the Low Voltage Directive 2014/35/EU. VDE certification and CE marking are therefore linked, but they are not the same thing.

UL 810: Recognized, not Listed

In North America the safety standard for these capacitors is UL 810, Standard for Capacitors, currently in its sixth edition of October 2019 with revisions through February 2025. Its Part I covers enclosed capacitors "with integral protection intended to reduce the risk of rupture and venting" under internal fault: expansion-type protection up to 5 kV and segmented-film protection up to 2 kV, for appliances, lighting, air conditioning, refrigeration and motors.

HYDRA's UL 810 approvals are UL Recognized Component certifications, not UL Listings. According to UL Solutions, the Recognized Component Mark is distinct from the UL Listed Mark and features a stylized backward "R" and "U". UL's certificates state that Recognized components are "incomplete in certain constructional features or restricted in performance capabilities" and are intended for installation in complete equipment submitted for investigation to UL. Their use is bound by conditions of acceptability, such as temperature limits or the type of housing, and UL Solutions notes that using a component outside these conditions can void the certification.

Within UL 810 there are two quite different levels of recognition:

• Internally protected. The Part I requirements for capacitors with integral protection apply (clause 1.1). HYDRA file E129223 covers this level for motor and lamp capacitor series (M..MKP and L..MKP), recognized for the US and Canada against UL 810 and CSA C22.2 No. 190.
• Construction only. Clause 1.2 allows the construction requirements of Part I to be used alone, for example for capacitors in polymeric enclosures "that are not provided with internal protection and intended to be located in circuits not requiring fault current protection". HYDRA file E201956 is of this type and covers single-phase MKP capacitors and dry-type series. HYDRA's catalogue lists it for the DC-link and AC filter capacitors.

Under clause 1.2, a construction-only evaluation is meant for capacitors in circuits that do not require fault current protection. It is therefore not equivalent to an internally protected recognition.

UL ratings of protected capacitors are stated together with an available fault current (AFC). HYDRA's motor capacitor datasheets, for example, give UL ratings with 10 000 AFC. UL 810 clause 1.5 states that a component capacitor used in a Part II power factor correction unit "has been evaluated for a minimum fault current rating of 10k AFC". For industrial control panels, UL's component selection supplement to UL 508A lists Recognized oil-filled capacitors to UL 810 under the category code CYWT2.

CQC: voluntary certification for China

The China Quality Certification Centre (CQC) issues both the compulsory CCC certificates and the voluntary CQC mark. Capacitors do not appear in the CCC product catalogue published by the Chinese regulator CNCA in 2020, which lists 103 products in 17 categories. CQC certification of a capacitor is therefore voluntary. The current catalogue should still be checked for the product in question.

HYDRA holds CQC certificates for its /321, /322 and /500 motor run series, issued separately for the Jičín and the Vietnam factory. They certify conformity with GB/T 3667.1-2016 under the certification rules CQC11-471114-2016. The certification scheme is spelled out on the certificate itself: "Type Testing of Product + Initial Factory Inspection + Follow up Factory Inspection", and the validity is "subject to positive result of the regular follow up inspection".

CE and UKCA: the manufacturer's declaration

The Low Voltage Directive applies to electrical equipment between 50 and 1000 V AC and between 75 and 1500 V DC. Whether a capacitor falls under it is less obvious than it seems. The Commission's LVD Guide of August 2018 names capacitors among the "basic components" whose safety depends largely on how they are incorporated. Such components are not covered as such and must not be CE marked. Components for which a risk assessment can be undertaken, such as transformers and motors, are covered. For motor capacitors and power capacitors up to 1000 V, the EU lists EN 60252-1 and EN 60831-1 as harmonised standards under the Low Voltage Directive (Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/2723), and HYDRA's VDE certificates state that they are a basis for the EC Declaration of Conformity and the CE marking.

In Great Britain the corresponding law is the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016, and the conformity mark is UKCA. According to current GOV.UK guidance, products under these Regulations can be self-declared, and Great Britain continues to recognise the CE marking, alongside or instead of UKCA, under the Product Safety and Metrology (Amendment) Regulations 2024. The UKCA mark may be placed on a label or an accompanying document until 31 December 2027. HYDRA's UK Declaration of Conformity covers motor capacitors of type M.. MKP in safety class S2 and refers to UK SI 2016 No. 1101 and the UK RoHS Regulations 2012, with EN 60252-1 and UL 810 as the applied standards.

The series and safety class on a declaration must match the part being ordered.

The last row is a frequent source of confusion. HYDRA's quality management system is certified to ISO 9001:2015 by TAYLLORCOX for the development, production and sales of passive components, especially capacitors. It is a certificate of the quality system, not a statement that a particular capacitor meets EN 60252-1 or UL 810.

How to verify a certificate

A PDF can be outdated or belong to another plant. Each certification body offers an online check:

1. VDE. The certificates themselves state that they "are valid only when published" on the VDE website. The VDE certificate search at vde.com accepts the certificate number. For numbers with an HA prefix, enter the digits with leading zeros.
2. UL. UL Product iQ, UL Solutions' online database, lets users find recognized components and review their conditions of acceptability. HYDRA's UL certificates refer to the UL Online Certifications Directory at iq.ulprospector.com, and the file number, such as E129223, identifies the holder. Note that a UL "Certificate of Compliance" is not the authorisation to apply the mark. Only products bearing the Recognized Component Mark are covered by UL's Follow-Up Services.
3. CQC. HYDRA's CQC certificates state that the certificate information is available through the QR code printed on them or on the CNCA website, cnca.gov.cn.

In each case, compare the holder, the series designation, the voltage and capacitance range, the safety class and the factory with the part on the order. A certificate that is valid for the Jičín plant does not cover a part made somewhere else unless that plant is listed too.

Conclusion

Approval marks on a film capacitor answer different questions. VDE, UL and CQC say that an independent body tested the design and keeps inspecting the factory. CE and UKCA say that the manufacturer declares conformity under its own responsibility for the EU or Great Britain. ISO 9001 describes the quality system, not the product. Within UL 810, an internally protected recognition and a construction-only recognition are not equivalent. Checking each certificate in the issuer's database shows whether it is current and which plants and series it covers.

HYDRA approvals and documents

HYDRA publishes the certificates and declarations discussed above on its documents page. The VDE Marks Approvals cover the motor run series 285, 321, 322, 400 and 500, the motor start series 330 and the lamp capacitor series 255 and 480. The CQC certificates cover the series 321, 322 and 500 and are issued separately for the Jičín and the Vietnam plant.

Further documents:

• CQC certificates, Jičín plant: series 321 (PDF), series 322 (PDF), series 500 (PDF)
• CQC certificates, Vietnam plant: series 321 (PDF), series 322 (PDF), series 500 (PDF)
• HYDRA capacitors catalogue 2025 (PDF) with all product lines
• HYDRA product overview

References

1. HYDRA a.s., Documents and certificates (VDE, UL, CQC, UKCA, ISO 9001), accessed October 2026.
2. VDE Testing and Certification Institute, Marks Approval No. 121204, motor running capacitor series M.. MKP ../321., updated 2021-11-08 (PDF), pages 1 to 3.
3. VDE Testing and Certification Institute, Certification marks and attestations. VDE.
4. VDE Testing and Certification Institute, Certificate search. VDE.
5. UL 810, Capacitors, 6th edition (2019, revised February 27, 2025), Scope clauses 1.1, 1.2 and 1.5 on the product page. UL Standards & Engagement.
6. UL LLC, Certificates of Compliance E129223 Vol. 1 Sec. 2 (2021), E201956 Vol. 1 Sec. 1 (2022) and E201956 Vol. 1 Sec. 4 (2022) issued to HYDRA a.s.
7. UL Solutions, The UL Component Recognition Classification. UL Solutions.
8. UL LLC, Supplement SA, Specific Component Requirements for Industrial Control Panels (UL 508A), November 15, 2022, item 36.1.1. UL Solutions.
9. HYDRA a.s., Hydra capacitors catalogue 2025 (PDF) and motor run capacitor datasheet, series 321 (PDF).
10. China Quality Certification Centre, Product Certificates CQC19006225787 (Jičín) and CQC19006215725 (Vietnam).
11. MPR China Certification, CNCA publishes updated CCC product certification catalogue (CNCA Announcement No. 18 of 2020), 19 May 2020.
12. MPR China Certification, CQC Certification and CCAP Certification for China.
13. European Commission, Electrical equipment designed for use within certain voltage limits (LVD Guide), August 2018, §7 and footnote 11.
14. Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/2723 on harmonised standards for electrical equipment drafted in support of Directive 2014/35/EU, consolidated text of 30 April 2026, Annex I, entries 140 and 341. EUR-Lex.
15. UK Department for Business and Trade, Placing UKCA or CE marked products on the market in Great Britain, last updated 21 August 2026. GOV.UK.
16. The Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016, UK SI 2016 No. 1101. legislation.gov.uk.
17. HYDRA a.s., Declaration of Conformity (UKCA), Motor Capacitor M.. MKP, safety class S2, 24.07.2024.
18. TAYLLORCOX s.r.o., ISO 9001:2015 certificate No. 2605257961, HYDRA a.s., valid until 22 May 2029.