Use this checklist to self-verify the regulatory and standards marking of a multilingual manual before release. It applies once manual translation, technical document translation, and user manual translation are complete. It covers safety signal words, safety pictograms, hazardous materials and batteries, environmental notices, market-specific certification marks, and accessibility and data protection disclosures. Run it in two stages: a self-check by the document owner, then a cross-check by QA together with certification or legal.
- Who this is for Technical writers, manual owners, localization and DTP staff, quality reviewers, and manufacturer documentation teams working alongside certification and legal.
- When to use it Immediately after applying market-specific marking and certification marks, before the deliverable build, and at final release sign-off.
- Use with The companion Regulatory and Standards Marking Guide explains the rationale and application of each check.
These are the general, industry-neutral checks selected from the standards Hansem Global has built across 36 years of localization programs for global manufacturers. They do not replace a published standard, a regulation, or legal advice.
Document and sign-off record
| Product / model | Document version | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch markets (countries) | Applicable certification marks | ||
| Contains batteries? | Contains hazardous substances? | ||
| Self-check by / date | Reviewer check by / date | ||
| Legal / certification reviewer / date | Supporting document | ||
| Release decision | ☐ Approved: all 8 Grade A items closed at zero, legal and certification record attached ☐ Rejected: return for correction and re-verification | ||
Severity grades
- A Critical / mandatory The manual is the legal delivery medium. A single miss can trigger a launch delay, a recall, a rejected procurement bid, or litigation. Must be zero at sign-off.
- B Major / recommended The manual is a secondary reference and the legal medium is the packaging, label, or shipping documents. A miss produces inconsistency between media and customer claims. Target zero.
- C Minor / supporting No Grade C items appear in this part.
- Work the items in grade order: A first, then B.
- Run two stages: a self-check, then a cross-check by QA together with certification or legal.
- Mark any item that does not apply as N/A and record the reason and the evidence in Notes.
- The 8 Grade A items must be at zero before the deliverable ships.
- Any item requiring a product-class or market judgment carries a confirmation record from legal and certification.
The 10 checks
| Category A · Safety and warning marking | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Check and acceptance criterion | Grade | Self | Rev. | Notes |
| 1 | Do safety signal words follow ANSI Z535? Verify the standard signal words and the hazard-level color coding. Confirm that DANGER, WARNING, CAUTION, and NOTICE have not been used interchangeably. | A | ☐ | ☐ | |
| 2 | Do safety pictograms follow ISO 3864 and ISO 7010? Verify the shape and color of warning, prohibition, mandatory-action, and safe-condition pictograms. In-house icons require certification team approval. | A | ☐ | ☐ | |
| 3 | Are safety statements translated using the standardized wording for each language? Check for free translation and confirm the official market wording is used. Lock safety signal words on the do-not-translate list. | A | ☐ | ☐ | |
| Category B · Hazardous materials and batteries | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Check and acceptance criterion | Grade | Self | Rev. | Notes |
| 4 | Does lithium battery transport marking follow UN 38.3 and related transport rules? Verify the UN 38.3 test certification marking and the transport marking. The legal delivery medium is the packaging and shipping documents. The manual is a secondary reference. N/A available by product specification. | B | ☐ | ☐ | |
| 5 | Does hazardous substance marking follow GHS and CLP labeling? Verify GHS hazard pictograms, signal words, and H-statements. The legal delivery medium is the product label and packaging. For California, separately confirm whether a Proposition 65 warning applies. N/A for products with no hazardous substances. | B | ☐ | ☐ | |
| Category C · Environmental notices | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Check and acceptance criterion | Grade | Self | Rev. | Notes |
| 6 | Do environmental notices (WEEE, EU Battery Regulation, RoHS) reflect the requirements of each launch market? Verify the crossed-out wheeled bin pictogram (WEEE), user-facing separate-collection instructions, the removal and disposal instructions required by the EU Battery Regulation (2023/1542), and the China RoHS hazardous-substance table. These are notices for which the document is the delivery medium. Market applicability requires certification team confirmation. | A | ☐ | ☐ | |
| Category D · Certification marks | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Check and acceptance criterion | Grade | Self | Rev. | Notes |
| 7 | Do the certification marks agree across the manual cover, the certification page, and the product label? Verify consistency for every applicable mark (CE, UKCA, FCC, KC, EAC, CCC, PSE). For the US market, also confirm the FCC Part 15 statement appears verbatim. Which marks apply, and in what format, depends on product class and launch date, so the certification team must confirm in advance. | A | ☐ | ☐ | |
| Category E · Accessibility and legal disclosures | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Check and acceptance criterion | Grade | Self | Rev. | Notes |
| 8 | For EU launches, has EAA applicability been confirmed (Directive 2019/882, in force 2025-06-28)? Verify accessibility conformance of the product and service manuals and online documentation. For the US market, confirm ADA and Section 508 applicability at the same time. Detailed checks are covered in Part 5. | A | ☐ | ☐ | |
| 9 | Are privacy and data-handling disclosures written for the law that actually applies? Verify the wording against EU GDPR, US CCPA and CPRA, and other applicable law. Manage the same language as separate variants when the markets differ, for example an English EU edition and an English US edition. | A | ☐ | ☐ | |
| 10 | Has legal and certification confirmed that each item matches the current law and standards as of launch? Verify the confirmation record covering variable items such as local-language obligations, unit-of-measure rules, and certification applicability. Record the reviewer, the date, and the supporting document. | A | ☐ | ☐ | |
Findings summary
| Grade | Checks | Open | Closed | N/A | Sign-off rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Critical | 8 | Must be 0 to ship | |||
| B Major | 2 | Target 0. Log any inconsistency between media |
Frequently asked questions
- If even one Grade A item is open, can we still ship? The rule is zero at sign-off. Grade A items are the ones where the manual is itself the legal delivery medium: safety marking, certification marks, environmental notices, accessibility and data protection disclosures. Any of them can produce a launch delay or litigation. If you override the rule under deadline pressure, record the exception reason, the approver, the residual risk, and the remediation date in the sign-off record.
- What if hazardous material, battery, or environmental marking does not apply to our product? Mark the item N/A and record the reason and the evidence in Notes. Applicability is not a judgment call for the reviewer. It is determined by the product specification and the requirements of the launch market. Settle battery inclusion and hazardous substance applicability in the sign-off header fields before you start.
- What form should the legal and certification confirmation record take? At minimum: reviewer name, confirmation date, and the supporting document (certificate number, test report, statutory citation, or the certification team’s written reply). Check 10 verifies that this record exists. A verbal “we checked it” is not evidence when an audit or a customer inquiry arrives after launch.
- When the certification marks differ between manual, label, and packaging, which one wins? None of them. Take the certification team’s approved mark list as the single source, reconcile each of the three surfaces against that list, then confirm the three agree with each other. Picking one surface as the reference propagates whatever error it already contains.
- If a regulation changes, what happens to manuals already shipped? Check the effective date first. The response differs depending on whether the change applies only to newly placed products or reaches back to units already in distribution. Where it reaches back, raise the document version and reissue, and route users of printed copies to the current version through the online manual and a QR path. The determination goes through legal and certification.
Pre-Launch QA Series for Multilingual Manuals (8 parts)
The series follows a multilingual manual from translation intake to market release, one gate at a time. Each part pairs a guide with a self-check checklist.
- Part 1 · Translation integrity Catching defects in translated files before editing
- Part 2 · DTP Multilingual typesetting and layout integrity
- Part 3 · Regulatory Market-specific regulatory and standards marking (this checklist)
- Part 4 · UI matching Synchronizing product screens with the document
- Part 5 · Accessibility EAA, WCAG, PDF/UA, and Section 508 conformance
- Part 6 · Multi-channel output Consistency across PDF, HTML, and mobile
- Part 7 · Print Bleed, CMYK, font embedding, and print readiness
- Part 8 · Data management Turning source files and TM into reusable assets