CNCA-C10-02:2026 — Why \"Has a CCC Certificate\" Is No Longer Enough When Buying LED Drivers

What Actually Changed

On 23 September 2026, the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China (CNCA) issued Announcement No. 22 of 2026, revising two compulsory product certification (CCC) implementation rules: CNCA-C10-01:2026 for luminaires and CNCA-C10-02:2026 for ballasts and control gear, both issued as trial versions.

The timeline is fixed:

• From 23 September to 31 December 2026, certification bodies may work under either the old or the new rules, at the applicant's choice.
• From 1 January 2027, all CCC activity must follow the new rules.
• Existing valid certificates remain valid and are converted through natural transitions, meaning product changes or renewal on expiry.

For anyone specifying LED control gear, the structural change matters more than the dates. This is the first time control gear has been split into its own implementation rule, separate from luminaires. Under CCC product category 1002 for lighting equipment, the listed item is DC or AC electronic control gear for LED modules, which is the LED driver. That item entered compulsory certification on 1 September 2014 with a one-year transition, and has shared a single rule with luminaires ever since.

The China Quality Certification Centre (CQC) subsequently confirmed that the new rules add specific requirements in three areas: unit division, type testing, and factory inspection. All three directly determine how many models a single certificate can legitimately cover.

Why Overseas Buyers Should Care

Two misconceptions come up repeatedly in our export enquiries.

We buy drivers, not luminaires, so CCC is not our problem. If the finished product never enters the Chinese market, a driver shipped straight out of China does sit outside CCC scope. But once a luminaire is sold or installed in China, the driver is itself a CCC-listed product and needs its own certificate; it cannot ride on the luminaire's certificate. Splitting the rules makes that boundary sharper, not looser.

The supplier sent a photo of the certificate, so we are covered. Certificate validity is one thing; the unit division schedule in the annex is another. Constant-voltage 12 V/24 V versus 48 V, IP20 versus IP67, 60 to 400 W versus 600 W and above: these can sit in different units. A model outside the certified unit is not covered, however genuine the certificate is.

Four Things to Confirm Before You Order

Settle these during Q4 2026 rather than waiting for a certificate to expire in 2027:

• Ask for the certificate number, not a photo. Verify status on the CNCA site, download the annex, and check the unit coverage list against your exact model, wattage band, output voltage and IP rating.
• Check coverage at model level. Constant current and constant voltage are not interchangeable, indoor IP20 and outdoor IP67 are rarely the same unit, and 12/24 V is not the same as 48 V magnetic track. Do not assume that one series shares one certificate.
• Ask for a version-change schedule. Expiry date, planned conversion date, and whether supplementary testing will be needed. From 2027 any product change triggers the new rules, and scheduling early is far cheaper than emergency re-testing.
• Match the certification scheme to the destination market. CCC for China projects, ETL for North America, LVD/EMC/CE for the EU. They do not substitute for one another.

Mapping This to Our Range

For China-domestic projects that need a CCC-listed constant-voltage driver, start with H14, our 3C-certified high-PF CV driver, 12/24 V, 60 to 400 W, IP20.

For EU outdoor work, use H16: high-PF waterproof CV driver, 12/24 V, 60 to 400 W, IP67, with LVD and EMC. For North American outdoor work, H11 carries ETL certification at IP67, 12/24 V, 30 to 300 W, with DALI, 0-10 V and phase-cut dimming.

On the dimming side: K02 is a semi-potted DALI-2 DT6 CV driver, 12/24 V, 60 to 400 W, suited to indoor commercial projects; H19 is the constant-current DALI, 0-10 V and Triac tunable-white driver at 10 to 52 W for downlights and spotlights; H03 and H04 are IP67 CV dimmable drivers at 60 to 400 W for outdoor facade and landscape work.

That list makes the point: certification follows the market and the construction, not the brand.

Our Take

This announcement is not administrative noise. It signals that LED control gear is now regulated as a category in its own right, with finer certification granularity.

Practically, it shifts the question buyers should ask. Do you have CCC is no longer enough. The useful questions are whether your specific model sits inside the certified unit, and when that certificate converts to the 2026 rules. After 1 January 2027, every product change will trigger the new rules, and a binary certified-or-not check will stop being fit for purpose.

What we can do on our side is supply a per-model list of applicable certificates and target markets that you can circulate internally. If you have Q4 2026 orders planned, send us the model list and we will check it against current certificate coverage. Doing this now costs far less than discovering a gap after an expiry date.