ASSE International was recently granted a Certificate of Registration for the ASSE One Year Field Test (ASSE 1YT®) certification mark by the U.S. Trademark Office. ASSE’s 1YT® program for backflow prevention assemblies is the nation’s first and only ANAB-accredited 1YT® program. ASSE’s 1YT® certification program was developed for jurisdictions that require both one year field test certification and adherence to the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC)® and/or the International Plumbing Code (IPC)® — both of which require certification bodies to be accredited.
Accreditation is important because certification bodies must be accountable for how they certify products. So, who checks the checker? The ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) is the body that checks certifiers for U.S. listings. This checking of certification bodies is a process called accreditation. Until recently, there were no accredited one-year field test programs in existence. In response to manufacturers seeking such an option, ASSE International, the leader in backflow protection, developed and implemented the 1YT® backflow certification program.
Products listed under ASSE’s new 1YT® certification can be found in ASSE’s public listings database (www.asse-plumbing.org/listed), and the ASSE’s 1YT® mark appears on the literature and/or the certified backflow assemblies themselves. ASSE has been working with our manufacturers for the past several years to verify their products’ compliance to our 1YT® field testing requirements, and the implementation date for the various backflow standards is set to be June 1, 2024. Moving forward, the ASSE 1YT® should always include the registered trademark symbol (®) adjacent to the mark in publications, advertisements, specification sheets, etc.
The ASSE International Product Certification Mark Guidelines and Requirements can be found on our website at: https://www.asse-plumbing.org/asse/mark-guidelines/product-certification.
Should you have any additional questions or wish to update your listing(s), please contact ASSE International at listingcoordinator@asse-plumbing.org.
