UL and CCIC Sign Joint Venture Agreement

Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL, Northbrook, IL) and China National Import and Export Commodities Inspection Corp. (CCIC, China) signed a joint venture agreement to establish UL Mei Hua Certification Co. Ltd. (Suzhou, China). The new company should begin operations in January 2003. UL and CCIC each will have 50-percent ownership of the joint venture and together will invest up to $15.0 million to build state-of-the-art testing facilities in Suzhou and Beijing, China, and to recruit, train and qualify a local certification team.