Canadian Representative for manufacturers in Poland
Poland has no ISED-recognized certification body and no recognized test laboratory of its own. What it does have is the Canada–European Community mutual recognition agreement, which applies to Poland as an EU member state — so a Polish manufacturer can use any recognized laboratory and body elsewhere in the EU, and ISED accepts the result. RSP-100 section 4.1 applies regardless: an applicant with a company address outside Canada appoints a Canadian Representative, and the certification body asks for the letter before it issues the IC number.
How certification runs from Poland
The absence of a Polish entry on either of ISED's lists is a question of where capacity sits, not of whether Polish manufacturers can certify for Canada. The MRA attaches to the EU, so the practical route is: test at a recognized laboratory in the EU — Germany has the densest provision, with recognized laboratories in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark and Czechia on the current list too — and have a recognized body in Germany, Spain, the Netherlands or Austria issue the certificate.
The other route, and usually the shortest where a US programme is already running, is to let the North American certification body handling the FCC file issue the ISED certificate from the same measurements. A Polish manufacturer selling into both markets rarely needs a separate Canadian test campaign at all.
Check ISED's current lists before committing a schedule. Recognitions carry expiry dates and are renewed on a rolling basis, so the useful question is not which country has capacity in general but which named body is recognized today.
Canadian Representative versus the RED authorised representative
Polish regulatory departments administer the Radio Equipment Directive's Article 11 authorised representative routinely, and the roles are easy to conflate. They are not the same. The RED representative holds the EU declaration of conformity and technical documentation and answers to EU market surveillance authorities. The ISED Canadian Representative answers ISED enquiries about one specific certification and provides audit samples at no charge to ISED, from an address in Canada — and holds no part of your technical file.
Naming the EU authorised representative on the ISED application is a predictable cause of certification-body returns. See the requirement explained.
Practical notes
Entity naming. Use the registered legal form exactly — sp. z o.o., S.A., sp.k. — matching the CB's application and the KRS extract. Polish legal forms are abbreviated inconsistently between documents more often than most, and the CB will return a file that does not match.
Contract manufacturing. Where you build to another company's design, the applicant on the ISED application decides who needs the representative — it is the entity named as applicant, not the brand. If you are the applicant, the appointment is yours. If your customer is, it is theirs. Worth settling early, because the letter has to name the applicant exactly.
Before you print. The Canadian manual's required notices must appear in English and in French under RSS-Gen section 9.3.1, whatever language your domestic market uses — and a translated manual is a new print file rather than an edit, which is why this is the most expensive item to find late. Run nine checks before you print, or have us run them: label and manual review, US$249 per IC certification number.
Fee and timing. US$499 per certified product, paid once, for as long as the product is offered on the Canadian market. No renewal, no second invoice, revisions free with no time limit. Card through Stripe clears immediately; wires from Polish banks arrive in one to two banking days. We invoice in US dollars. Warsaw is six hours ahead of Ottawa, so a Polish morning order is normally issued by the Polish afternoon.
Audit samples. Shipped from Poland to ISED's laboratory in Canada at the applicant's cost, documented as a regulatory sample; we coordinate. See ISED audit samples.
There is no Polish certification body on ISED's list. Can we still certify for Canada?
Yes. The Canada–EU mutual recognition agreement applies to Poland as an EU member state, so a recognized body elsewhere in the EU can issue the certificate on test data from a recognized EU laboratory.
Where do Polish manufacturers usually test for Canada?
At a recognized laboratory elsewhere in the EU, or — where an FCC programme is already running — at the North American laboratory already doing that work, with the same measurements used for both filings.
Does using a German or Spanish certification body change who needs the representative?
No. Section 4.1 turns on the applicant's company address. A Polish applicant needs the Canadian Representative whichever recognized body issues the certificate.
We manufacture to a customer's design. Who appoints the representative?
Whoever is named as applicant on the ISED application. If that is your company, the appointment is yours; if it is your customer, it is theirs. The letter must name the applicant exactly.
Is our EU authorised representative enough?
No. Different role, different jurisdiction. You need the Canadian Representative as well.
Sources. RSP-100, Issue 12, section 4.1. ISED recognized certification bodies and recognized testing laboratories (check current status). Canada–European Community Agreement on Mutual Recognition. RSS-Gen, Issue 6, section 9.3.1. Directive 2014/53/EU (RED), Article 11.