AS/NZS 4417.2:2012 is the standard that State based product safety regulators and JAS-ANZ accredited certifiers use for definitions and determinations of declared ( Level 3 certification under the Electrical Equipment Safety System (EESS)) and non declared electrical items.  Amendment 4 was published on June 30 2017 and introduced nine additions to the prescribed electrical equipment categories – one of these additions was DC isolators, which are principally used in solar installations. Appendix B of AS/NZS 4417.2 outlines the the additions which took effect on 30 June 2018.

Under Energy Safe Victoria (ESV) Electricity Safety Act 1998,  it became an offence to supply DC isolators without being approved by an electrical safety State based regulator or JAS-ANZ accredited third party certifier.

There is currently a limited number of DC isolators that have been approved.  Section 57 of the Act does not provide ESV with an exemption power.  ESV will instead take an educational approach to the supply of unapproved DC isolators into the Victorian market, provided installers make every effort to source and install approved DC isolators and suppliers of DC isolators are in a genuine process of obtaining approval of their product.  Each State appears to have varying requirements so if you sell DC isolators nationally, you should seek confirmation from each State regulator.

DC isolating switches must now have a valid Certificate of Conformity confirming the product complies with AS 60947.3:2018. The brand and all relevant models must be registered to the responsible supplier in the EESS national database and be marked with the Regulatory Compliance Mark (RCM).  ASA (Australian Safety Approval) can assist with providing level 3 certificates and uploading of the certificates to the EESS database subject to a formal application that includes an accredited report to AS 60947.3:2018.