【General information】

Recently, TCO announced the 9th-generation certification standards and implementation timetable on its official website. The 9th-generation TCO certification will be officially launched on December 1, 2021. Brand owners can apply for certification from June 15th until the end of November. Those who receive the 8th-generation certificate by the end of November will receive 9th-generation certification notice, and acquire the 9th-generation certificate after December 1. TCO have ensured the products certified before November 17 will be the first batch of 9th-generation certified products.

【Difference analysis – Batteries】

Battery-related differences between Generation 9 certification and Generation 8 certification are as follows:

1. Electrical safety- Updated standard- EN/IEC 62368-1 replaces EN/IEC 60950 and EN/IEC 60065（Chapter 4 revision）
2. Product lifetime extension（chapter 6 revision）

l Add: The best battery life for office users should be printed on the certificate;

l Increase the minimum requirement of the rated capacity after 300 cycles from 60% to more than 80%;

l Add new test items of IEC61960:

• The internal AC/DC resistance must be tested before and after 300 cycles;
• Excel should report the data of 300 cycles;
• Add a new battery time evaluation method on the basis of year.
  3.Battery replaceability（chapter 6 revision）

l Description:

• Products classified as earbuds and earphones are exempted from the requirements of this chapter;
• Batteries replaced by users without tools belong to CLASS A;
• Batteries that cannot be replaced by users without tools belong to CLASS B;
  4.Battery information and protection (Chapter 6 addition)

l The brand must provide battery protection software, which can reduce the maximum charge level of the battery to at least 80%. It must be pre-installed on the product. (Chrome OS products are not included)

l The software provided by the brand must be able to determine and monitor the following content, and display these data to users:

• Health status SOH;
• State of charge SOC;
• The number of full charge cycles that the battery has experienced.
  5.Standardized external power supply compatibility (Chapter 6 addition)

Applicable scope: notebooks, smart phones and earphones with an external power supply of up to 100W.

l The product must carry a USB Type C standardized socket (port) for USB Power Delivery that complies with the standard EN/IEC63002: 2017 or later-the identification and communication interoperability method of external power sources used by portable computing devices.

or

l The product must have a built-in wireless charging function that complies with Qi wireless power transmission system, Power Class 0 specification version 1.2.4 or future revisions.

l Increase SPI:

• Standardized external power supply type (Class A-B) distributed with the product;
• The life of the charger is extended (Class A-C).