[blub]

As the downvoted comment explains, there's good quality masks coming out of China and there's tons of questionable quality masks. Differentiating between the two is difficult if not impossible.

Personally I am using some Chinese made masks every now and then from a reasonably well known company, but they are CE certified FFP2 masks. Still prefer big brands when I can get them though, but they're still ridiculously expensive.

[michaelg7x]

I'm sure you're aware -- but I was very surprised to find out -- that the European CE certification mark was _quite_ so similar to the younger China Export Mark: https://www.ybw.com/vhf-marine-radio-guide/warning-dont-get-...

[Semaphor]

Also note that it’s an urban myth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CE_marking#China_Export

[david_allison]

Anecdata: I saw an incorrect CE mark (presumably China Export) a couple of weeks after learning about it (Dec 2020).

The citation's from 12 years ago and may no longer be accurate.

[Semaphor]

They even mention CE compliant products not adhering to the logo’s formal specification. There is literally nothing that makes it "presumably China Export".

[michaelg7x]

Ha! Every day's a school day ...

[Semaphor]

Then they might as well use the real logo as the CE mark for medical equipments also has to include the standard tested for, and the lab which did the certification (for Chinese masks that’s 99% a lab in Turkey)

[blub]

What's up with Turkey? Recently bought German made masks and they were CE certified by a Turkish company/organisation.

[Semaphor]

Which one was it? The common one is Universal Certification and Surveillance Services Trade Co. [0]

What I’ve heard, is that almost all the European labs had crazy backlogs for certification of PPE and the Turkish one was the only one with capacity.

[0] www.universalcert.com

[ungruntled]

CE, as far as I can tell, is self certified. Meaning that any company can simply register in the EU and slap the logo on their product. Otherwise, in the US, the same thing happens with FDA registration. Mask companies claim FDA approval when they mean that they simply have registered their product. Registration does not imply approval or certification, its means that the company declares its selling goods of a certain type. I’ve had the issue of mask sellers even provide bogus registration information for unrelated product categories.