Quick answer: If your customer is asking for the “B2ca certificate” or the “IEC 61034 certificate” of an LSZH compound, the document they want does not exist in that form. CPR Euroclass, smoke density and flame spread are certified on a finished cable construction, not on the pellets. What a compound can honestly carry is a set of material-level reports — and knowing which is which saves weeks of back-and-forth.
This question lands in our inbox almost every week, usually from a distributor who has been asked for a certificate by their own customer and is passing the request up the chain. Nobody in that chain is doing anything wrong. The request is just aimed at the wrong level.
Two levels of certification, and why they get mixed up
An LSZH cable compound is a material. A cable is a construction: conductor, insulation, fillers, tapes, sheath, all in a specific geometry. Most fire tests care about how that whole construction burns, which is why they are run on cable, not on a plaque of compound.
The British material standard says it outright. BS 7655-6.1, which covers low-emission thermoplastic sheathing compounds (types LTS 1 to LTS 4), notes that smoke emission requirements are based on tests on cables, not on individual materials, and sit in the relevant cable standard. That one sentence resolves most of the confusion.
So the practical split is:
| Requirement | Tested on | Who holds the result | Can a compound supplier provide it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| IEC 60754-1 halogen acid gas | Material sample | Compound supplier | Yes — limit 5 mg/g |
| IEC 60754-2 pH and conductivity | Material sample | Compound supplier | Yes — pH ≥4.3, ≤10 µS/mm |
| LOI, tensile, elongation, ageing | Material sample | Compound supplier | Yes — against EN 50363-8, BS 7655-6.1 or IEC 60502 ST8 |
| IEC 60332-1 / -3 flame propagation | Finished cable | Cable maker | Only as a reference-cable result, not for your cable |
| IEC 61034 smoke density | Finished cable | Cable maker | Only as a reference-cable result |
| CPR Euroclass (EN 50575 / EN 13501-6) | Finished cable (EN 50399 etc.) | Cable maker — DoP + CE mark | No. Never. |
The last row is the one that causes the trouble, so it gets its own section.
CPR: the certificate a compound can never have
Under the EU Construction Products Regulation (305/2011), cables permanently installed in buildings have been classified under EN 50575 and EN 13501-6 since 1 July 2017. The main classes run Aca (best) through B1ca, B2ca, Cca, Dca and Eca to Fca. Each carries three additional ratings: smoke (s1, s1a, s1b, s2, s3), flaming droplets (d0, d1, d2) and acidity (a1, a2, a3).
The cable manufacturer issues the Declaration of Performance and applies the CE mark. Not the compound supplier, not the distributor. The classification belongs to a specific cable construction produced under factory production control.
This has a direct commercial consequence. A “B2ca-s1a,d0,a1 compound” is a marketing description at best. What it can legitimately mean is: this compound has been used in a reference cable that reached that class. Change the conductor size, the wall thickness or the number of cores and the result can move. If you want to see why construction dominates, the smoke side is broken down in the smoke density test article.
What the compound can carry — and the traps inside it
Halogen acid gas, IEC 60754-1. The limit is 5 mg/g of halogen acid. The catch: this method is not recommended below 5 mg/g, so it cannot actually prove a material is halogen-free — only that it is under the threshold. For a halogen-free claim, IEC 60754-2 is the relevant test.
Acidity, IEC 60754-2. pH ≥4.3 and conductivity ≤10 µS/mm are the numbers everybody quotes — though the standard frames them as recommended values in its annex rather than normative limits. More useful if you sell into the EU: the CPR a1 class needs conductivity below 2.5 µS/mm with pH above 4.3. A compound report showing 8 µS/mm passes IEC 60754-2 comfortably and still cannot deliver a1 on any cable. Ask for the actual measured value, not just “pass”.
Material properties. In Europe, halogen-free thermoplastic sheathing compounds for harmonised low-voltage cables are specified in EN 50363-8 (designation TM 7), with the crosslinked halogen-free insulating and sheathing compounds in parts 5 and 6. In the UK, BS 7655-6.1 covers LTS 1 to LTS 4. Internationally, IEC 60502 uses the ST8 designation for halogen-free sheath. A compound test report should name which of these it was tested against. “Meets all standards” is not a report.
A request that went round in circles for three weeks
A UK wholesaler asked us for the CPR certificate on a black LSZH sheathing grade. Their customer, a cable assembler, needed Cca-s1b,d1,a1 for a hospital refurbishment and wanted the paper before placing an order.
We said no certificate like that exists for a compound. The wholesaler assumed we were stalling — fairly, since two other offers they had received claimed exactly that. We asked both of those offers, through the wholesaler, which cable the classification was obtained on. One never answered. The other sent a report for a 3-core 2.5 mm² construction, which was not the assembler’s cable.
What actually moved it forward was a different package: IEC 60754-2 values measured at 1.9 µS/mm and pH 5.1, which showed the compound had room for a1; LOI and mechanical data against BS 7655-6.1; and a reference-cable result so the assembler’s test house knew what to expect. The assembler still had to classify their own cable. Three weeks were lost before anyone asked the right question, and I think every one of them could have been avoided with the table above in the first email.
What we would advise
If you are a distributor or trader: do not take an order that requires a DoP unless there is a cable maker in the chain who will issue it. If your customer is buying compound and expects CPR paperwork from you, that is a gap no supplier can fill, and promising it will cost you the account. This is one situation where you should turn the business down rather than buy it from us.
If you are a cable maker: ask your compound supplier for measured IEC 60754-2 values (not just pass/fail), the material standard the mechanicals were tested against, and any reference-cable data. Then budget for classification of your own construction at a notified body; nobody can shortcut that for you. The cable-side standards map is on our flame retardant for wire and cable page.
If you are specifying for an OEM or project: write the requirement against the cable class, and separately ask for the compound’s material reports. Asking for a compound Euroclass invites exactly the kind of document you cannot rely on.
If a supplier sends you a “compound CPR certificate”: ask what cable it was tested on, who the notified body was, and whether that construction matches yours. If any of the three answers is vague, the document is not what it claims to be.
Where Rectivas sits in this
Plainly: we are a sourcing and technical partner, not a factory owner and not a laboratory. We arrange UL94 and LOI screening at our partner factory’s lab for fast selection work, and material-level reports — IEC 60754-1/-2, mechanical properties — through an accredited laboratory. Batch traceability comes from the ISO 9001 certified factories we source from. We cannot issue a DoP, and we will not describe a compound by a Euroclass. The available report set for each grade is in the technical documents pack, and what an importer actually needs at customs is covered in flame retardant import documents.
On the product side, grades are built on magnesium hydroxide flame retardant or ATH, supplied either as halogen-free flame retardant packages for compounders or as finished flame retardant compound. Whether a lot behaves consistently from one delivery to the next is a production question as much as a paperwork one — see the LSZH cable compound production process.
FAQ
Can an LSZH compound be CPR certified?
No. CPR classification under EN 50575 and EN 13501-6 applies to cables, and the Declaration of Performance is issued by the cable manufacturer. A compound can be used in a cable that achieves a class, and a supplier can share that reference result, but the class belongs to the cable construction, not the material.
Which reports should come with an LSZH compound?
At minimum: IEC 60754-1 or -2 acid gas results with measured values, LOI, and tensile and elongation before and after ageing against a named material standard such as EN 50363-8, BS 7655-6.1 or IEC 60502 ST8. Reference-cable data for IEC 60332 and IEC 61034 is a useful extra, not a certificate for your cable.
What is the difference between IEC 60754-1 and IEC 60754-2?
Part 1 measures halogen acid content with a 5 mg/g limit, but is not recommended below that level. Part 2 measures pH and conductivity of the combustion gases and is the test that supports a halogen-free claim. For EU work, the Part 2 conductivity value also decides whether a1 is reachable on the finished cable.
Is an LSZH compound automatically a1 under CPR?
No. IEC 60754-2’s commonly quoted limit is 10 µS/mm, while a1 needs below 2.5 µS/mm with pH above 4.3. A compound can be genuinely halogen-free and still sit in a2. Check the measured value before you promise a1.
Is there a UL equivalent of certifying the compound?
For plastics in devices, UL does recognise materials, and that is what a UL yellow card is. Building cable listings in North America, like CPR in Europe, attach to the cable. The two systems are different in detail but agree on that point.
How long does it take to get compound-level reports?
Material tests on an existing grade are normally a matter of weeks at an accredited laboratory, depending on its queue. Cable classification for CPR is the cable maker’s project and takes longer. Tell us your deadline when you enquire and we will say honestly whether it is realistic.
Final thoughts
Most certification disputes over LSZH compound are not about quality. They are about asking one level of the supply chain for a document that only another level can issue. The compound supplier owes you measured material data against a named standard; the cable maker owes your customer the Euroclass and the DoP. Keep those two apart in the RFQ and the paperwork stops being the slowest part of the project. Send us the cable class your customer needs and we will tell you which compound reports support it — and which part of the job has to happen at the cable maker. Which reports you need also depends on the application: rail, marine and data cable each answer to a different standard, listed in LSZH cable compound uses. Before the paperwork question comes the buying question: which halogen-free definition your customer actually means, and how to normalise quotes against it — see how to compare halogen free compounds.
—— Rectivas Materials 团队 QC 阿丽