Most scope arguments we see start from the wrong end. Voltage gets you part of the way; what decides it is who the product is marketed to.
The EESS in-scope test is usually quoted as a voltage range, and the voltage range is real: broadly, equipment rated above 50 V AC RMS or 120 V ripple-free DC and below 1000 V AC RMS or 1500 V ripple-free DC.
But voltage alone has never settled a scope question in our experience. The limb that decides it is the third one: whether the equipment is designed or marketed as suitable for household, personal or similar use.
Why "it's a commercial product" is not an answer
This is the most common position we are asked to defend, and it is the weakest. A product does not fall outside the EESS because you have decided to call it commercial. If a regulator considers it suitable for household or similar use — because of how it is sold, where it is sold, what it looks like, what the manual says, or simply because consumers are demonstrably buying it — it will generally be treated as in scope unless the Responsible Supplier can show otherwise.
The practical test we apply is uncomfortable but useful: if this product appeared in a consumer marketplace listing tomorrow, would anything about it look out of place? If the answer is no, plan on it being in scope.
Risk level is not your judgement call either
In-scope equipment is classified Level 1 (low risk), Level 2 (medium) or Level 3 (high). The level determines what you have to hold and what you have to register:
- Level 3 requires a certificate of conformity from a recognised certifier, and the equipment must be registered in the national database before supply.
- Level 2 must also be registered, supported by evidence of compliance the Responsible Supplier holds.
- Level 1 does not require equipment registration, but the product must still be electrically safe, correctly marked with the RCM, and backed by evidence you can produce on request.
Crucially, the level is determined by the equipment classification, not by your assessment of how dangerous the product feels. We have seen a supplier confidently classify a product as Level 1 on the reasoning that "it's only a small appliance" — and find the classification put it at Level 3, with a certificate requirement they had not budgeted for and stock already on the water.
The three obligations people collapse into one
A single appliance frequently carries three independent obligations, and satisfying one says nothing about the others:
- Electrical safety under the EESS, including registration.
- EMC and, where the product transmits, radiocommunications under the ACMA arrangements.
- Energy efficiency under GEMS, where the product is in a regulated class — and GEMS registration is a precondition of supply in its own right.
The RCM is the mark that declares the first two. It says nothing about the third. A product can carry a perfectly valid RCM and still be unlawful to sell because it is not GEMS registered.
When to get a written position
Scope questions are worth resolving in writing before stock is ordered, not after. Where the answer is genuinely arguable — and sometimes it is — a documented position setting out the reasoning is what you want to be holding if the question is ever put to you. It is also what a retailer's compliance team will ask for.
Guessing is the expensive option. The cost of establishing scope properly is a fraction of the cost of discovering, mid-shipment, that a Level 3 certificate was required.
This article states the position as at 9 September 2026. Regulatory requirements change, and it is general information rather than advice on a specific product. We confirm the instrument and the standard edition in force at the time of each project.