TCO Certification is a series of product certification

Product certification

Product certification or product qualification is the process of verifying that a certain product has passed performance tests and quality assurance tests or qualification requirements stipulated in contracts, regulations, or specifications...

s for office

Office

An office is generally a room or other area in which people work, but may also denote a position within an organization with specific duties attached to it ; the latter is in fact an earlier usage, office as place originally referring to the location of one's duty. When used as an adjective, the...

 equipment (most notably monitors

Computer display

A monitor or display is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure...

). It is set by TCO Development, owned by the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees

Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees

The Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees is a national trade union centre, the umbrella organisation for eighteen trade unions in Sweden that organise professional and other qualified employees within both the private and the public sectors...

, TCO (Tjänstemännens Centralorganisation). The certifications are named after years. Although commonly associated with computer monitors, later TCO revision also defines standards for computers, keyboards, printers, mobile phones and office furniture.

TCO'92

The first TCO certification defines low emission standard for computer displays, and power management features, which is a superset of MPR

SWEDAC

Swedish Board for Accreditation and Conformity Assessment is the national accreditation body, assessing the competence of laboratories, certification and inspection bodies in Sweden....

-II standards.

TCO'95

TCO'95 expands certification category to CRT

Cathode ray tube

The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...

 displays, keyboards, system units. Within each item, the standard addresses ergonomics, emissions, energy, and ecology involved into making the certified product.

Ergonomics

• High visual ergonomic requirements for displays, which entails high image quality and excellent color reproduction.
• Option to regulate display angle (new in TCO'03 Displays).

Emissions

• Considerable reduction of magnetic and electrical fields.
• Minimized electrostatic fields.

Energy

• Low energy consumption for reduced environmental impact.
• The energy saving function provides a better indoor climate through reduced heat emission, which results in retained air humidity.

Ecology

• The manufacturer shall be certified according to ISO 14001 / EMAS.
• Reduced emission of brominated and chlorinated flame-retardants and heavy metals into the environment (Complies with the RoHS directive from 1 July 2006).
• Recycling preparations facilitate material recycling.
• Information on where the displays can be turned in for recycling.

TCO'99

This version certifies Cathode Ray Tube Displays (CRT), Flat Panel Displays (FPD), Portable computers, Desktops, Keyboards, Printers. Starting from 2006-07-01, certified product also has to comply with RoHS

Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive

The Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment 2002/95/EC was adopted in February 2003 by the European Union. The RoHS directive took effect on 1 July 2006, and is required to be enforced and become law in each member state...

 when sold in Europe.

TCO'99 FPD does not have any requirement for display color.

Emissions

Labeling includes the SAR value, which is the accepted way of measuring the amount of radiation energy absorbed by the head when the telephone is broadcasting at full power. Also included is TCP (Telephone Communication Power), which is a new method for determining the telephone's communication ability. A good telephone must use a large portion of its power for communication and as small a percentage of the radiation as possible should be absorbed by the head. A good combination, therefore, is a low SAR value and a high TCP value.

Ergonomics

A telephone must be easy to use. The requirements cover such things as the buttons, the form of the display, the suitability of the manual for the user, and the material used in the casing in order to avoid problems relating to contact allergies..

Ecology

This states the substances that are completely banned from use in the telephone, cadmium, mercury, and beryllium oxide, and those which may only be used to a limited extent, such as lead and flame-retardants

TCO'03

TCO'03 only regulates Cathode Ray Displays (CRT) and Flat Panel Displays (FPD). Luminance and resolutions requirements are tightened. New to the certification includes Image loading capacity, RGB settings for visual ergonomics section; vertical tile for Work load ergonomics section; tightened noise requirement for "all-in-one computers" for emissions (acoustic noise) section; dropped co-operative agreement with at least one professional electronics recycling company requirement in Ecology section; lowered energy consumption in Energy section. RoHS

Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive

The Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment 2002/95/EC was adopted in February 2003 by the European Union. The RoHS directive took effect on 1 July 2006, and is required to be enforced and become law in each member state...

is applicable after July 1st, 2006.

TCO'04

TCO'04 only defines office furniture, making it the first TCO certification for non-electronic devices. Certified furniture included work tables and work chairs. It concentrates on following areas:

Ergonomics

• Dimensions and functions
• Safety, stability, and strength
• User-friendliness
• Material characteristics

TCO'05

TCO'05 only defines notebook and desktop computers, which are successors of TCO'99 for computers.

Ergonomics

• (desktop) More stringent requirements that the graphic card in the computer shall produce an image on a computer display which is flicker-free with good brightness and good contrast.
• (desktop) At least one USB connection should be located on the front side.
• (notebook) More stringent visual ergonomic requirements for the display resulting in higher image quality.
• (notebook) Requires possibility to either separate display from keyboard or to connect an external display and keyboard.
• (notebook) Requirements on the keyboard are introduced.

Ecology

• Require testing environmental characteristics of the flame-retardants used in the product.
• Require information on where the computer can be turned in for recycling.
• (notebook) Require facilitating recycling of mercury lamps.

TCO'06

TCO'06 Media Displays extends TCO'03 FPD version 3.0 to include a Flat Panel TV or multifunction display to be used for monitoring or rendering moving images. A display intended for office use should be certified as TCO'03 Displays and the multifunction display can be certified as TCO'03 Displays and TCO'06 Media Displays.

The following are changes from TCO'03 Displays to TCO'06 Media Displays:

• Pixel array is less strict.
• Luminance level is more strict.
• Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) variation is more strict.
• Colour Greyscale linearity is more strict.
• Energy consumption is less strict.

The following are new additions from TCO'03 Displays to TCO'06 Media Displays:

• Video and Computer interfaces
• Response time
• Black level

The following are removed from TCO'03 Displays to TCO'06 Media Displays:

• Front frame gloss
• Vertical tilt
• Vertical height adjustment

TCO'07

TCO'07 defines headset standards to guarantee a product meets certain ergonomic, radiation, environment, and energy use requirements.