China Exempt

The Department for Business (the former Department of Trade and Industry) and now an executive agency of the European Union, responsible for Enterprise and Regulatory Reform tell us via their web site :

"CE marking is a declaration by the manufacturer that the product meets all the appropriate provisions of the relevant legislation implementing certain European Directives. CE marking gives companies easier access into the European market to sell their products without adaptation or rechecking. The initials "CE" do not stand for any specific words but are a declaration by the manufacturer that his product meets the requirements of the applicable European Directive(s)".

It seems that enterprising Chinese manufactures weren't aware of this and thought CE = China Exempt

.