UL Certification for North America

Last Updated on October 17, 2026 by Craig Allen Keefner

We needed this weekend to do a dive into UL for North America.  We are about to release “So you are Coming To North America” for our Asia and Europe friends eyeing the NA market.

So here is a quick look at UL in the US from our vantage in Denver. Trust but verify is my motto.

• Recent tour of KIOSK highlighted their in-house accredited UL testing lab
• Other send to office in Longmont and get on schedule
• UL used to be $5000 — now it is $20K and can go as high as $30K
• Might be good example of Salesforce AI dynamic pricing and quotes?
• Ways to beat?
  • Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories
  • ETL
  • CSA and TUV

Why has the cost of UL certification gone up so much so quick?

Mostly because UL Solutions is now a profit-focused public company that prices on what the mark is worth to you, not on what the testing costs it. Demand and tougher testing requirements make that easier to do. UL doesn’t publish a price list, so I can’t give you an industry-wide percentage. The direction is clear, though.

Pricing based on value

• UL Solutions told investors in September 2026 that pricing is “an important contributor” to its margins. It uses what it calls value-based pricing, justified by its standards-writing role, the UL mark, and its labs.

• It said pricing used to be decentralized and “less developed.” It has since standardized pricing tools across the company and uses a global Salesforce system with AI insights for sales. In practice, fewer cheap quotes from individual offices slip through.

• The margin numbers back this up. Adjusted EBITDA margin went from 21% in 2023 to a 27% target for 2026, about 600 basis points of gain since the IPO.
• On an earnings call, management said “pricing remains constructive” and that its fees are “a small fraction of the total product development costs” for manufacturers. That signals they don’t expect customers to push back hard.

Demand and complexity

• Certification testing was up 10.9% year to date in 2026. AI data centers, electrification, and automation are filling the labs. Busy labs mean less reason to discount.
• Products need more testing than they used to. Embedded software brings in functional safety, cybersecurity, and human-factors testing. Changing a component, material, or factory can force a retest, which hits hard right now as supply chains shift.

Billing changes

• UL changed how it bills for keeping a certification active. It now charges a fixed quarterly fee that includes factory inspections, plus a separate annual administrative fee. It stopped charging for variation notices. UL says most clients will see little change, but it admits some will pay more. If your bill jumped suddenly, this may be part of the reason.

• Get quotes from other Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories (NRTLs), the OSHA-accredited labs whose marks have the same legal standing as UL’s. Intertek’s ETL is often 25–50% cheaper and a few weeks faster. CSA and TÜV are other options.
• When you do use UL, have the quote spell out the fixed scope, the retest terms, and what the quarterly fee will be.

For kiosk makers specifically, the UL mark itself is worth paying for mainly when a buyer or local inspector insists on it by name. Otherwise, any NRTL mark meets the requirement.

How About Mexico?

UL, ETL, or CE marks alone won’t get a kiosk into Mexico. Mexico requires its own mandatory NOM certification (NOM stands for Norma Oficial Mexicana, its official national standards). A UL or ETL listing can still cut your work, and in one product category it may still be enough on its own.

What Mexico requires

• The certificate is issued to the Mexican importer of record, not to the foreign manufacturer. You’ll need a Mexican importer or partner to hold it.
• Bodies that can issue it include ANCE, NYCE, and UL de México. Intertek also issues NOM certificates through its Mexico operations.
• NOM certificates are valid for one year and have to be renewed annually.

Which NOM a kiosk falls under

• Most kiosks would be treated as information technology equipment. That category is covered by NOM-019-SCFI-1998, and a replacement standard, NOM-019-SE-2021, has been in progress for years.
• If your kiosk has a cellular, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth module, it also needs separate telecom approval from the regulator (the IFT/CRT).

Where UL or ETL still helps

• Equivalence for IT equipment: Mexico has an agreement that accepts certain U.S. and Canadian results as equivalent to NOM-019-SCFI-1998. It only applies to certification under the older UL 60950-1 standard, not the current UL 62368-1.
• The catch: UL says that once NOM-019-SE-2021 takes effect, this equivalence agreement and the mutual-recognition agreement both end. I couldn’t confirm whether the final version has been published yet, so check its status with your certification body before relying on this route.
• Under the trade agreement, Mexico can recognize U.S. testing bodies, but only UL and Intertek have actually been accredited for this.

A practical approach

If you’re also selling in the U.S., ask your lab to produce a CB report while it does your U.S. certification. Then have a Mexican partner take that report, plus the Mexico-specific tests, to NYCE (which covers electronics and IT equipment) or to UL de México or Intertek. Because UL and Intertek work on both sides of the border, using one of them can save duplicate testing. That gives them some leverage over you on price, so get a quote from NYCE too.

Comments

Frank Olea is an industry-recognized authority on regulations and UL — UL is not mandatory like CE testing is. Large clients generally require it as it’s a good third-party safety evaluation.  Groups like Intertek can do both UL and NOM if you need it.

Addendum – What About China?

A kiosk installed in Shenzhen almost certainly needs China’s CCC mark, the country’s compulsory product certification. Budget roughly RMB 20,000–80,000 (about US$3,000–11,000) for the first certificate, plus yearly surveillance fees. A kiosk’s cost lands toward the top of that range, and the bill goes up if your factory is outside China or the kiosk has a cellular or wireless module.

Why a kiosk needs CCC

• China’s certification regulator (CNCA) has ruled that a self-service terminal combining two or more CCC-listed IT or telecom functions is itself subject to CCC. Since January 1, 2009, such kiosks can’t be made, sold, imported, or “used in business activities” without the certificate and mark.

• That last condition matters for you. Installing the kiosk in a shop, bank, or station counts as business use, even if nobody is selling the unit.

• Kiosk makers do get these certificates. One manufacturer publishes its CCC certificate from the China Quality Certification Centre (CQC) for its intelligent self-service terminals, covering only the listed models and factory.

• Testing is done to GB 4943.1, China’s version of IEC 62368-1.

What it costs

Item	Typical cost
Application and registration	About RMB 1,300–1,500yciplaw
Type testing at a designated Chinese lab	RMB 10,000–50,000+, depending on test scopeksqa
Factory inspection	RMB 2,000–2,500 per auditor-dayksqa; about RMB 5,000 for a factory of up to 150 people, plus travelyciplaw
Agent or consultant (optional)	Often adds 30–80% on topwll
Annual surveillance	About US$1,500–2,500 a yeardocshipper

The certificate is valid for five years, provided the annual surveillance is kept up, and the whole process takes about 3–6 months. For a Shenzhen-made kiosk going through a local agent, I’d plan on about RMB 30,000–60,000 (US$4,000–8,500) all-in for the first year. That’s my estimate from the ranges above, not a published price.

What pushes the price up

• Factory outside China: Chinese auditors have to travel to your plant, and you pay for it. One guide puts the auditor travel for a foreign factory at more than the audit itself. Kiosks built in Shenzhen avoid most of this.
• 4G/5G, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth: China’s telecom rules can add a radio approval (SRRC) and a network access license on top of CCC. Buying modules that already hold these approvals saves a lot.
• More models: Each additional configuration can add testing.

Ways to save

The cheapest route is usually to buy from a Shenzhen kiosk maker whose model already has a CCC certificate. Ask for the certificate number and check that it covers that exact model and factory, and that it hasn’t expired. The Wintech certificate above, for example, ran only until September 15, 2026.

Unlike UL, CQC publishes its fees. Prices therefore vary much less from lab to lab than in the U.S., and the agent’s fee is the part to negotiate.

Comparison – UL, CCC and NOM

Five-year cost for one kiosk model

These totals are my rough estimates from the ranges above, for a model without wireless:

UL: about $20,000–50,000. Most of it is the first-year evaluation, and it goes higher if you’re on quarterly inspections at the top of the price range.

Mexico NOM: about $15,000–35,000. It starts cheap, but four renewals plus five years of agent fees add up.

China CCC: about $9,000–21,000. One certificate covers five years, and the yearly surveillance is modest.

Adding cellular or Wi-Fi pushes the Mexico total up the most, because the IFT radio approval can cost more than the NOM safety certificate itself.

Why UL costs the most

Pricing: UL Solutions prices on the value of its mark. CQC and the Mexican certification bodies charge from published fee lists, so their prices vary much less.

Where the money goes: Most of the UL and CCC cost comes in year one. With NOM, a large share keeps coming back every year.

Ways to reduce the total

Use one test program for all three: Have UL 62368-1 testing done together with an IECEE CB report (the international test-report scheme). Mexico accepts CB reports as supporting evidence, though it still requires its own local tests. China’s GB 4943.1 matches the same IEC standard.

Get a competing U.S. quote: An ETL listing from Intertek is often 25–50% cheaper than UL, with the same legal standing.

Use pre-approved radio modules: Modules that already have FCC, IFT and SRRC approvals avoid most of the wireless add-ons in all three markets.