Smoke from a cheap meter

[Neilm]

I don't recall the details, but there is a minimum required by any product for safety as required by the EU and IEC to be sold as a testing device, CAT rating isn't necessary.  It must have a CE stamp on it to be sold in EU

Only if it falls under one of the new approach directives (which I believe includes DMMs), otherwise it's prohibited.

All multimeters fall under the remit of IEC61010 - "Safety requirements for electrical equipment for measurement, control, and laboratory use".

and that means conformance with the IEC directive.

That means that the manufacturer/importer certifies that it's in compliance with whatever the requirements of the directive are, not that this was actually verified. They (distributor/importer/authorized representative/manufacturer, whoever has the deepest pockets) are probably liable if this turns out to be false, however.

The responsibility for ensuring compliance rests on the company that first places the device on the market in the EU. That company is then liable for any false declarations. Sometimes importers will take a manufacturers declaration but this is dangerous. When I had a job approving instruments for importation, I insisted on not only seeing the full safety report and checklist (as required by the IEC) but also performing a few series of tests (checking creepage / clearance, surge tests ect). On more than one occasion I found a manufacturer had produced a product with a certificate of test that did not pass, or whose report had glaring ommisions. One of the best (worst) was one that had a check list with every entry marked Not Applicable.

I dread to think how many importers take the fact it has a report and certificate and place it on the market without doing any independent checks.

Neil