§ 1204.14 Certification tests.

(a) General. As explained in § 1204.11 of this subpart, certificates of compliance required by section 14(a) of the act must be based on either a test of each item or on a reasonable testing program. (b) Tests of each item. If the certificate is based on tests of each item, the tests may be either those prescribed by the standard or any other test procedure that will determine that the item tested will comply with the standard. (c) Reasonable testing programs—(1) Requirements. (i) A reasonable testing program for a particular model of CB antennas is one which demonstrates with a high degree of assurance that all the antennas of that model will meet all requirements of the standard. Manufacturers and importers shall determine the types and frequency of testing for their own reasonable testing programs. A reasonable testing program which does not test each item produced should be sufficiently stringent that any variations in production, etc., over the production interval would not cause any antenna to fail if tested according to the requirements of the standard. (ii) All reasonable testing programs shall include qualification tests, which must be performed on one or more samples of the CB antennas representative of each model produced, or to be produced, to demonstrate that the product is capable of passing the tests prescribed by the standard and shall also include production tests, which must be performed during appropriate production intervals as long as the product is being manufactured. (iii) Corrective action and/or additional testing must be performed whenever certification tests of samples of the product give results that do not provide a high degree of assurance that all antennas manufactured during the applicable production interval will pass the tests of the standard. (2) Testing by third parties. At the option of the manufacturer or importer, some or all of the testing of each item or of the reasonable testing program may be performed by a commercial testing laboratory or other third party. However, the manufacturer or importer is responsible for ensuring that all certification testing has been properly performed with passing or acceptable results and for maintaining all records of such tests in accordance with § 1204.17 of this subpart.